Chopin. Brahms

There are musicians whose rich legacy is measured not only by concerts and recordings. It lives on in their students, in their art, professional principles, and love for music. Tetyana Verkina was precisely such a figure—People's Artist of Ukraine, an eminent pianist, public figure, professor, long-time head of the Special Piano Department, and rector of the Ivan Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts in Kharkiv.

The principles of her performing art became a school for many talented pianists who today represent the Ukrainian piano tradition both in Ukraine and far beyond its borders. Among them are Denys Kashuba, Maksym Shadko, Oleh Kopelyuk, and Ihor Sediuk, who will come together this evening to honor the memory of their Teacher.

The first part will feature works by Frédéric Chopin—music that combines virtuosic mastery, deep emotion, and a special intonational freedom: Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise brillante, the Fantasy, the Fourth Ballade, and the Second Scherzo. The second part will be dedicated to Johannes Brahms’s Sonata for Two Pianos—a large-scale work filled with dramatic tension, lyricism, and powerful inner energy.

This concert is an opportunity to remember Tetyana Verkina on the day of her 80th birthday, to hear her favorite pieces, and once again feel the strength of the school she created, which continues to live through the art of her students. For a true Teacher remains with us as long as the continuity of tradition endures.