Yegor Zabelov (BY/PL) + Gemini Duo (CN)

Vinterjazz: Experimental & contemporary accordion

Join us as we transform Aula at Union into a giant tone chamber that you can step inside and experience two experimental approaches to contemporary accordion music.

From Yegor Zabelov’s expressionistic and physical venture into the avant-garde to Chinese twin sisters Gemini Duo’s fusion of contemporary experimentation and traditional Chinese folk music.

Yegor Zabelov (BY/PL)
Yegor Zabelov is a Belarusian accordion virtuoso based in Poznań, Poland, who challenges every preconception of what an accordion can be. With a musical expression spanning experimental folk music, minimalism, avant-garde jazz, ambient, and neoclassical music, he explores the instrument's possibilities and pushes it to its very limits.

In Zabelov's hands, the accordion is transformed from a traditional folk instrument into an almost orchestral sound source, creating a dark, hypnotic, and intense musical universe through insistent rhythmic repetitions, massive walls of sound, and a vast dynamic range. His concerts take on the character of physical, almost ritualistic experiences, where the instrument's mechanical and organic qualities merge into a distinctive musical expression.

Over the years, Zabelov has established himself on the European experimental music scene, performing at festivals and venues across the continent. Alongside his solo career, he has composed music for film and theatre and previously gained international recognition with the duo Gurzuf.

Gemini Duo (CN)
Gemini Duo consists of Chinese twin sisters Wanchen Zhao and Wanxu Zhao, who have studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen since 2019. The duo performs contemporary music for two accordions, exploring and expanding the instrument's possibilities through new compositions, reimagined orchestral transcriptions, and musical encounters in which Chinese folk music and neoclassical techniques create a distinctive expression that transcends time and geography.

In 2025, Gemini Duo released their debut album Morning Echoes on the French classical label Evidence Classics. Rooted in the classical chamber music tradition, the duo seeks to establish new contexts for the accordion as a concert instrument, bridging the established classical repertoire, experimental contemporary music, and their Chinese musical heritage.

Read more at finaldescent.org