Konstantin Soukhovetski, an award-winning pianist, composer, and educator known as a Queer icon of the classical music world, will perform at PianoFête 2026, an annual festival of two-piano repertoire unfolding July 8–11 at the Vashon Center for the Arts.
Soukhovetski, who has appeared in the festival since its premiere edition in 2022, is part of a four-member virtuoso company also including PianoFête’s curator Vyacheslav Gryaznov and acclaimed pianists Rexa Han and Daria Kiseleva.
Over the years, Soukhovetski’s contributions to PianoFête have always been marked by dazzling wardrobe, Queer joy, and musical brilliance. In 2023, his appearance boasted the Washington premiere of “The Pride Suite,” his solo composition with six movements representing the colors of the Pride flag.
Russia born and Juilliard trained, Soukhovetski is a laureate of 17 international competitions, who has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Louvre. He appears widely in recitals and with orchestras across the United States and Europe, and also serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School.
Soukhovetski described his annual sojourn to Vashon as filled with simple island charms but also deep artistic rewards.
“Vashon is a magical place for me — a true escape from the reality of the world, which seems to grow louder and louder with each passing day,” he said. “I can’t wait to be with my friends again in the truly Arcadian escape of Vashon this summer.”
His past residencies at the Vashon Center for the Arts with Gryaznov and the rest of the PianoFête company, he said, have been “unlike anything else in my experience — truly creative, revelatory, and fun.”
He also praised the art center’s Katherine L. White Hall, a 300-seat, state-of-the-art facility known for its intimacy and excellent acoustics.
“I love that we have the entire theater to ourselves for a week,” he said. “Of course, an artist thrives with an audience in the seats, and nothing makes me happier than a full house. But there is also something spellbinding about rehearsing on a dimly lit stage, with all the seats empty, as though they are waiting to receive the newborn life from the stage.”
Wonders await at PianoFête — an event that is notably free for youths 18 and under, with adult tickets going for $42 per concert.
Soukhovetski will appear in three of the festival’s four concerts, all at 7:30 p.m.:
- Wednesday, July 8: “The Piano as Orchestra,” performed by the entire PianoFête company, will include Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila; Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances”; Rimsky-Korsakov’s Suite from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh; Smetana’s “Má Vlast”; Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dances,” Op. 72, Nos. 1 and 2; and Rossini’s “William Tell Overture.”
- Thursday, July 9: “Beethoven: The Last Door,” with Soukhovetski and Daria Kiseleva, will explore the intensely emotional world of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111.
- Friday, July 10: “Childhood, Elegance, Jazz and Broadway,” with Rexa Han and Vyacheslav Gryaznov, will include Ravel’s “Ma Mère l’Oye/Mother Goose”; Fauré’s “Dolly” suite; Kapustin’s “Sinfonietta”; and Bernstein’s “West Side Story” suite.
- Saturday, July 11: PianoFête’s grand finale features all four pianists and includes a world premiere composition with Vyacheslav Gryaznov’s virtual orchestra platform, G-Phil; Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz”; and “Kalinka Variations.” Then, joined by the Vashon-Maury Chamber Orchestra, the pianists — all of whom are immigrants — will offer up an eight-hands “Tribute to America” suite, including “Prelude - Anthem”; “Yankee Doodle”; “America the Beautiful”; “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy“; “American Salute”; and “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
Reserve tickets and find out more, including information about hotel packages on Vashon, at www.vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Elizabeth Shepherd is the former editor of the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber.
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