GLOBAL POTT - Musik im Salon: Le Grand Concert

Change of date: The next Global Pott will exceptionally not take place on the first Thursday in March, but on Saturday, 28.02.26 at 7.30 pm.

The program Le Grand Concert creates a sonic journey that begins in the world of the late Baroque with Johann Sebastian Bach and continues into the music of the 21st century. The result is an intense dialog between meditation, spirituality and dance.

While Bach unfolds a clear, light-flooded musical architecture, Sofia Gubaidulina and Arvo Pärt open up an inner resonance space in which silence, breath and tension themselves become expressive materials. Their music explores the verticality of time - a suspended, condensed time in which every gesture takes on symbolic weight.

In the second part of the program, the pulse quickens and the dramaturgy shifts to rhythm and physicality. From the virtuoso sarcasm of Mikołaj Majkusiak to the passionate nuevo tango of Astor Piazzolla to the urban humor and improvisational energy of Tomás Gubitsch, fire becomes the driving force behind the final development.

The concert thus spans a coherent arc between silence and fire, between contemplation and dance, between inwardness and stage - a line that connects the spiritual East with Latin America and contemporary Europe.

Pavel Efremov - accordion
Constantin Borodin - violoncello

Reservation under: veranstaltung@kunsthaus-essen.de

This series is sponsored by the Cultural Office of the City of Essen.

Pavel Efremov comes from Chișinău (Republic of Moldova) and belongs to a new generation of accordionists with an increasingly international artistic presence in Central and Eastern Europe. As an interpreter of the classical accordion, he is characterized by a wide-ranging repertoire that includes baroque music, contemporary works and his own transcriptions of important compositions.

His musical training began at the "Ștefan Neaga" music college in Chișinău in the class of Prof. Sergiu Mirzac. He then continued his studies in Germany at the Detmold University of Music with Prof. Marko Kassl. As part of an Erasmus stay, he studied at the Musikene Center of Excellence in San Sebastián (Spain) with Iñaki Alberdi. Pavel Efremov is currently completing his concert exam at the renowned Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in the class of Prof. Mie Miki - one of the most influential personalities on the contemporary accordion scene.

He has performed in major concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and beyond, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Bijloke Gent, the Athenaeum Bucharest and the National Theater Baghdad. In addition to his solo activities, he is regularly active in chamber music formations and interdisciplinary projects and collaborates with actors, choreographers and visual artists.

Pavel Efremov is the founder of the organization SonArte, through which he initiates numerous artistic and educational projects in the Republic of Moldova, including Summer Music Camp, Soirées Musicales and SonArte PROMO. These projects are dedicated to the promotion of young musicians as well as the mediation and visualization of cultural heritage. At the same time, he is committed to expanding the accordion repertoire through transcriptions, commissioned works and close collaboration with contemporary composers. Through his concert, educational and curatorial activities, Pavel Efremov sees himself as a cultural ambassador of the Republic of Moldova in Europe.

In 2025, he was honored with two major awards: the "After Graduation" prize at the LSORM Gala and the "Gavriil Musicescu Prize" from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova.

Constantin Borodin was born in Chișinău and began cello lessons at the age of six. After finishing school, he continued his musical education at the National Music University of Bucharest, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in the class of Prof. Marin Cazacu.

As part of two Erasmus scholarships, he then studied at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (Belgium) and at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he is currently continuing his master's studies in the class of Prof. Konstantin Heidrich. He has won over twenty national and international competitions, including 2nd prize at the "M is for Mozart" competition in Cluj, 3rd prize at the Domenico Gabrielli Competition in Berlin and, most recently, 2nd prize at the renowned George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest (2022). His artistic training has taken him to numerous masterclasses with internationally renowned cellists such as Gautier Capuçon, Miklós Perényi, Mirel Iancovici, Cătălin Ilea, Sebastian Klinger, Valentin Răduțiu, Stefan Popov, Justus Grimm and others. He has also been a guest of important academies such as the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University Salzburg (ISA), the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), the Rutesheim Cello Days and the Ochsenhausen Academy.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Romanian National Youth Orchestra, the Bucharest Radio Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Chișinău, the Bremen Alt-Hastedt Chamber Orchestra and the Dinu Lipatti and Ion Dumitrescu Philharmonic Orchestras, among others. Concert appearances have taken him to major cultural centers such as Berlin, Strasbourg, Bern, Bucharest, Sibiu, Chișinău, Rutesheim and Reichenau an der Rax.

Constantin Borodin is a scholarship holder of the Paul Hindemith Society Berlin and the Deutschlandstipendium and has been supported by institutions such as the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, U.N.I.M.I.R. and the Rotary Club. He is a member of the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Violoncellissimo ensemble.