on 24 May 2025
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Ariana Kashefi and Petr Limonov
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Ariana Kashefi and Petr Limonov
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Petr Limonov
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Ariana Kashefi
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Ariana Kashefi and Petr Limonov
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Ariana Kashefi and Petr Limonov
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On Saturday, while the sky was gloomy and the weather’s indecisiveness lingered, we enjoyed a most pleasing recital, by cellist Ariana Kashefi and pianist Petr Limonov. They gave us the distinctive joy of chamber music, where the cello and piano were woven with each other in both the most simplistic beauty and the most complex melodious interplay. Their programme of Henry Eccles, Amy Beach, Nikolai Myaskovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninov covered three centuries. Although mostly of a romantic orientation (apart from Eccles), Myaskovsky’s composition was written when Russian art was strictly controlled by the Soviet regime while Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata, his most celebrated chamber music piece, showed the height of Romanticism. I think the programme exquisitely displayed both instruments’ capacity in full. In our intimate setting, where you can hear the tiniest tremble and no mistake is forgiven, we totally appreciated the whole range of tonal beauty by both artists; how incredibly touching the cello’s most subtle yet crystal clear long phrases were. And the contrastingly percussive notes, which were punchy. And the deepest sounds, which strongly engaged us to the core. And the pianist Petr, he absolutely and instinctively knew how to sing and voice the piano, his dynamism was embracing and softness, heart-wrenching. Together, the duo’s stand-out performance left huge imprints on our memories.
Petr seemed to have a strong inclination to Nikolay Myaskovsky’s Cello Sonata. He mentioned that although it sounds very romantic, it is deceptive – it contains a lot of yearning coming out from the composer. And sure enough, we could hear and feel the yearningness and slight hesitation. The first movement was deeply personal with the theme rather somber yet somewhat unsure as if searching for something. Although not overly dramatic, the subtle beauty of the cello stood out, and felt as if the intimate accompaniment by the piano was gently dressing the cello with the finest fabric which draped flawlessly.
The whole evening was filled with beauty, but the slow movement of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata was hard to beat. The initial piano passage was indescribably touching; not overly emotional or artificial for the sake of the effect, but Petr’s approach was simple and gently rocking and whispering to the audience while waiting to receive the cello’s entrance. And when Ariana’s magical melody came in, with the most gorgeous vibratos, I couldn’t hold back my tears!
The evening completed with the slow movement of Chopin’s Cello Sonata. Totally blissful.
- Henry Eccles
- Sonata in G minor
- Amy Beach
- La Captive
- Berceuse
- Mazurka
- Myaskovsky
- Cello Sonata No. 2
- Rachmaninov
- Cello Sonata
British-Persian cellist, Ariana Kashefi is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and section principal. As a soloist she has performed extensively throughout Europe, including at the Wigmore Hall, Pierre-Boulez Saal, and Berlin philharmonie. She is the winner of the Luigi Nono chamber music competition in Turin with her duo partner, Maksim Stsura and is a City Music Foundation Artist.
She is also a top prize winner of the Rubinstein cello competition and a recipient of the Villa musica scholarship where she was awarded the use of a fine Gagliano cello. Ariana is also a previous Making Music ‘AYCA’ artist and Park Lane group artist where she premiered a new piece for solo cello dedicated to her by Deborah Pritchard at the Southbank Centre and also performed the work live on BBC radio 3’s In Tune.
Ariana completed her masters degree at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin with the highest possible mark and is very grateful for the support of the Royal Philharmonic society for awarding her the Julius Isserlis scholarship which enabled her to study abroad. She then went on to study at the Barenboim-Said academy in Berlin for an artist diploma with Professor Frans Helmerson, completing it in 2019.
She is also regularly invited as guest principal cellist with the London Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Camarata, Britten Sinfonia and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under maestro Daniel Barenboim.
Winner of Nikolai Rubinstein Piano Competition, pupil of Maria João Pires and Dmitri Alexeev, award-winning British pianist Petr Limonov is increasingly sought-after both as a soloist worldwide. His notable solo and concerto appearances include La Roque d’Antheron festival (broadcast by radio France Musique), Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kolarac Hall, Cadogan Hall, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, a solo recital in The Duke’s Hall given for His Majesty King Charles III, iTunes Festival, Lerici Music Festival, TV appearances for BBC Proms Extra, Podium Witteman and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3.
His arrangement of the Auld Lang Syne (from Nicola Benedetti’s “Homecoming” album, Decca) was performed in the Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. On the 6th of March 2022, Petr conducted an open-air orchestral concert in Trafalgar Square, London, in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Petr has recorded albums for Decca, Onyx Classics, Chandos and Champs Hill labels; the “1948” album, recorded with Laura van der Heijden, received the “Edison Klassiek” and the BBC “Newcomer of the Year” awards. Over the years, his shared the stage with Maria João Pires, Nicola Benedetti, Gabriel Feltz, Michael Seal, Adrian Brendel, Laura van der Heijden, Jennifer Pike, Mathilde Milwidsky, and Leonard Elschenbroich, among others.
Born in Moscow, Petr started playing the piano at the age of 5. A year later he entered the prestigious Moscow Central Music School, where he studied under the guidance of Siavush Gadjiev, Valery Piasetsky and, later, Andrei Pisarev. After winning First Prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris he started giving concerts throughout Europe and Russia, supported by the Vladimir Spivakov International Foundation. He went on to study with Hamish Milne and Alexander Satz at the Royal Academy of Music (London) on a full scholarship, followed by a year spent at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, where his teachers were Ramzi Yassa and Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy. In 2010 Petr returned to London to commence his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev on a full scholarship, obtaining his Masters degree in 2012. During his studies Petr took part in masterclasses given by Ferenc Rados, Alfred Brendel, Stephen Hough, Vitaly Margulis and Stephen Kovacevich; whilst in RCM he also studied conducting under Peter Stark. In November 2013 Petr made his conducting début at Cadogan Hall with London International Chamber Orchestra, directing works by Glazunov and Rachmaninov.