Shura Cherkassky – one of the major musicians in the world, the most prominent pianist of the 20^th century. Everything in his biography is as unusual, “unconventional” as in his creative appearance. The fact that Cherkassky, in fact, never studied with anyone (with the exception of a few lessons or, rather, consultations with I. Hoffmann, which Cherkassky took being an established and mature musician) is unusual. Nevertheless, already at the age of 12, the young son of Jewish immigrants from Odessa, having barely arrived in the United States, performed with a symphony orchestra, playing concertos by Schumann and Liszt ...

Shura Cherkassky was thus an example not only of a “prodigy”, but also almost the only embodiment in academic culture of Sholem Aleichem’s type of “Jewish folk born musician”.

Repertoire of Shura Cherkassky was vast: from Bach and clavecinists to Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, from the Romantics to Japanese and Chinese music. But the pianist had reached the greatest heights, according to generally recognized opinion, in the music of Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann. Cherkassky “rediscovered” much in the musical world of these composers: heroism, epicism and masculinity in Chopin; - tragedy and psychological acuityof characters in Schumann. It is not without reason that Cherkassky's performance of Schumann's works was compared to the metaphoric world of Dostoevsky.

Cherkassky traveled all over the world, touring even in Thailand, Singapore and Afghanistan, and performed in his native Odessa many times. The musician played with many great conductors: Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti and Leopold Stokowski. However, not every maestro agreed to a joint concert with Shura Cherkassky. There was certain spontaneity in his playing. Shura always put the flight of the soul above the planned scenario. He often said: “I don't like standard interpretations. I like surprises.

For the115th birth  anniversary of Shura Cherkassky we have prepared selection of musical pieces performed by the prominent pianist:
– Prelude “Pathetique”, author and performer Shura Cherkassky
–  “Liebeswalzer” (Love Waltz) Op. 57, No. 5, composer Moritz Moszkowski, performs Shura Cherkassky

Biography of Shura Cherkassky is in the section Authors.