Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninov each had very different attitudes towards piano performance and composition. Mussorgsky studied the instrument under Anton Gerke’s tutelage but established himself principally as a composer, one of ‘The Five’ who strove to achieve a uniquely Russian identity in their music. Tchaikovsky was not a pianist of any remarkable attainment. However, in addition to his three piano concertos, he contributed to the instrument’s repertory two sonatas and over one hundred miniatures, most of them grouped in various collections. He was also an early influence on Rachmaninov, who became renowned as a conductor and pianist, no less than as a composer, and eventually enjoyed an international reputation and popularity in all three arenas.

Russian pianist, Ilya Yakushev, with many awards and honours to his credit, continues to astound and mesmerise audiences at major venues on three continents. His three-concert series at the San Francisco Symphony’s Prokofiev Festival under Michael Tilson-Thomas was named one of the ‘Top 10 Classical Music Events of 2007’ by the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr Yakushev attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music where he studied with Dr Arkady Aronov and later with legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman.