The ‘Bullroom’ makes its introduction
MARFA — An old roadside motel on the edge of town. The Stone Circle art, light and sound installation, giant boulders on the border of the grasslands. And a decades-old but recently unused auction barn where snorting and stomping bulls were sold to ambitious cattle operators. If these sound like the perfect venue for two world-class pianists to wow you with their fast fingers and mastery of complex compositions, then Ballroom Marfa has an invitation for you to experience their brilliance in these unique settings — something only available in Marfa.
Celebrated pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy will travel from London to bring their groundbreaking, site‑specific musical vision to Ballroom Marfa for a weekend of performances that promise to be unlike anything seen or heard before — as least for piano maestros — in Far West Texas.
Fresh from sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall and immersive, place‑inspired performances at the Guggenheim museums in Bilbao and Venice, Kolesnikov and Tsoy arrive not to perform in Marfa, but with it. Their invitation? To listen deeply to the land, the wind, and the light echoing across this high desert terrain.
Over the course of three days and five performances, their residency will unfold across a series of public and secret spaces almost forgotten. Each performance is conceived in dialogue with its setting, creating a kind of living score shaped by silence, architecture, texture, and time.
The music of Beethoven, Ustvolskaya and Messiaen is chosen not as repertoire, but as resonance. Each work becomes a portal, a sonic aperture through which landscape and listener meet. This is not a concert series. It is a sonic pilgrimage: a constellation of fleeting encounters that blur the boundaries between classical form and radical place‑making.
With roots in the world’s most revered concert halls and a commitment to reimagining how and where we listen, Kolesnikov and Tsoy are ready for a weekend of exploration under the dark skies — and well, the bull barn ceiling — of Marfa.
Regarding some of the venues, the bull barn, tentatively titled “Bullroom,” is the latest innovation in the Ballroom Marfa music series. The nonprofit recently saved the barn from obscurity by leasing it from Presidio County after the Hereford Cattle Association’s lease ended last year. The Stardust is the motel on Highway 90 west toward Valentine with the iconic sign. And the Stone Circle is a massive solar-powered sculpture at the north end of Gold Course Road, a creation of Haroon Mirza in 2018 that comes to life on full moons with lights and sound.
Kolesnikov and Tsoy took time from their busy travels to pen their thoughts on Marfa. “Last winter we came to Marfa for the first time,” they wrote. “We came without a plan. For a few days we were driving around incessantly. We would get out of the car almost at random, looking, listening, and sensing. We looked at the ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’ things with the same eyes. I think, a bit as if we were explorers on an alien planet. The sites we ended up choosing are the ones that revealed to us the anomalous energy of Marfa. Or better say, energies, because they are all distinctly different. They are extraordinary sites, and each of them is somehow hidden, dormant. What we aim to do is to wake them up with the sounds of music, to bring the energy to the surface and reveal to everyone for a moment. For us it is something between incantation and divining. Summoning something that is brimming underneath, and hovering above!”
Kolesnikov and Tsoy are celebrated for their visionary approach to bridging tradition and modernity. As soloists and as a duo, they present thought-provoking programmes in the world’s most prestigious concert hall — while also creating powerful musical dialogues in unconventional spaces such as the Gagosian galleries, the Guggenheim museums in Bilbao and Venice, Antwerp’s Fashion Museum and London’s Bold Tendencies.
Their duo debut at Carnegie Hall was named one of the New York Times’ “Best of 2024.” That same year, their debut recording of works by Schubert and Desyatnikov on Harmonia Mundi was featured in Le Monde’s “Nos albums préférés de 2024” and won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or, while also being named BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice.
As soloists, both artists have earned international recognition. Kolesnikov, known for his poetic and deeply immersive artistry, has recorded extensively for Hyperion and received the Diapason d’Or de l’année for his Chopin Mazurkas. In recent seasons, he has been artist‑in‑residence at The Armory in New York and Wigmore Hall, as well as a featured artist at the Aldeburgh Festival. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and Philharmonia Orchestra — collaborating with conductors Susanna Mälkki, Manfred Honeck, Sir Mark Elder, Gianandrea Noseda, Alexandre Bloch, and Vasily Petrenko.
Tsoy, praised for his inexhaustible imagination and exceptional sensitivity, released his debut solo recording, Inmost Heart, on Linn Records in February 2025. The album received a five-star review and was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice. He recently made his debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and performed both of Brahms’ piano concertos in a single evening with the Philharmonia Orchestra. He has worked with conductors Maxim Emelyanychev, Gergely Madaras, Enrico Onofri, Valery Gergiev, and Diego Masson. In 2023, he became the first classical musician to perform at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.
Kolesnikov and Tsoy frequently extend their performance work beyond conventional concert settings. As musical curators, they are known for their site-specific projects, realised both in iconic venues and unique, off-the-beaten-track locations. In Spring 2025, they will create a musical homage to David Hockney during the opening weekend of his largest retrospective to date at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Avid multidisciplinary collaborators, they have worked closely in recent years with choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, sculptor Richard Serra, and fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. In 2019, Kolesnikov and Tsoy co-founded the Ragged Music Festival in London — an initiative that reimagines the relationship between music, architecture, and the visual arts. The festival was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2021. In 2023, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam granted Pavel and Samson carte blanche to curate an international edition, subsequently re-inviting the festival in March 2026.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Stardust Opening | 7:15–9:35 p.m.
STARDUST MOTEL | 30.30491° N, 104.04616° W
A concert at the edge of the desert: glamorous, light, and just slightly surreal. As the sun sets and the music deepens, the evening opens the door to everything that follows.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
10,000 Horses Sonic Experience | 11:30–12 p.m.
STONE CIRCLE | 30.33219° N, 103.99252° W
The sound of two pianos floats across an open landscape carried by wind-like voices from far away. You’ll find yourself between them, listening for something you didn’t know was there. A catered lunch will follow the performance. Sonic Pass holders only.
Ustvolskaya, Beethoven & The Goldberg Variations | 8–10:30 p.m.
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
The evening begins with Ustvolskaya and Beethoven, followed by a champagne intermission, and concludes with the Goldberg Variations.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Conversation with Lawrence Weschler | 11–11:45 a.m.
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen | 12–1 PM
BULLROOM | 30.32058° N, 103.99782° W
A cosmic explosion of sound and color, Messiaen’s music feels like staring into light. This is a prayer built from joy, rhythm, and fire.
The Rite of Spring | 9:30–10:10 PM
STONE CIRCLE | 30.33219° N, 103.99252° W
Under the stars, on sacred ground, Stravinsky’s music returns to its primal source. You’re invited to witness something wild and elemental. Free and open to all.
PASSES
CLASSICAL PASS ($100)
Access to the weekend’s core events:
- Stardust Opening at Stardust Motel
- Conversation with Lawrence Weschler at Bullroom
- Ustolskaya, Beethoven & The Goldberg Variations at Bullroom
- Messian’s Visions De L’Amen at Bullroom
SONIC PASS ($500)
All Classical Pass benefits plus:
- Exclusive 10,000 HORSES SONIC EXPERIENCE At Judd Foundation 30 Acres
- Priority seating at all events
The Rite of Spring at Stone Circle is free and open to all.
