When someone wins a competition in two different disciplines, it is an unmistakable sign of something exceptional. That is certainly the case of pianist Olga Pashchenko, who won First Prize at the Musica Antiqua competition in Bruges in the harpsichord category and likewise in the fortepiano category. Those are only two among her total of 14 awards. With the young Russian pianist, we experience fascination for historical performance practice at first hand: audiences and critics are astounded by Pashchenko’s capacity to coax an unsuspected potential for sonority and expression out of early keyboard instruments. In 2020, due to the pandemic, her Ruhr Piano Festival recital could only be transmitted by radio broadcast. Now she will perform her Festival début in front of an audience, with a selection from Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words”, paired with character pieces by his sister Fanny Hensel: these pieces are much less known, but no less appealing.