Samson Tsoy at Classical Pride review

July 18, 2023

Samson Tsoy

CMF Artist Samson Tsoy recently took part in Classical Pride at the Barbican Centre – the first of its kind in the UK.

Alongside a host of performers including Oliver Zeffman, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson paid tribute to the classical music repertoire that has been composed by queer composers over the history of the artform.

Samson and his partner, Pavel Kolesnikov, performed Concerto for Two Pianos by Poulenc, with Gay Times noting that these are “two pianists at the very top of their profession”. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) was openly gay and a devout Catholic.

Rising star, the Russian pianist Samson Tsoy was born in Kazakhstan to a Korean father and Russian-Jewish mother. Based in the UK, he leads an international career and has already been invited to perform with renowned conductors including Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Alexander Vedernikov with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Diego Masson with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Junajo Mena with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Roberto Minczuk with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.