Tatiana nikolayeva shostakovich biography
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She was born on 4 May 1924 and began playing the piano at the age of three, subsequently entering the Moscow Conservatoire to study with Alexander Goldenweiser and Yevgeny Golubev. She retained her close connection with the Moscow Conservatoire all her life. Indeed, her name was inscribed twice on the marble Roll of Honour there, first as a pianist, then as a composer.
After winning the 1950 Bach Leipzig Piano Competition, Nikolayeva built up a phenomenal volume of repertoire, ranging from Bach to Bartók and beyond. Her interpretation of Bach on record won great critical acclaim. Whilst others used so-called 'original' instruments, Nikolayeva preferred to play Bach on a modern Steinway—always with great success.
Her long working association with Shostakovich, and
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While We Still Have The Chance
I blew it! And I’m reminded of it from time to time.
In 1992, I heard that the Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva was going to perform in Chicago. I had come to know of her from the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich, which he composed around the time of the 200th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1950. He’d been one of the jurors at the first International Bach Competition of Leipzig that year, Nikolayeva won the top prize in the piano division. And Shostakovich decided that she was the pianist for whom he was going to write the pieces.
At the time, I’d been listening to selections from two of the recordings which Nikolayeva made of the works. I was excited by the prospect of hearing her perform them live.
Nevertheless, I didn’t make the trip. I’ve forgotten why I decided not to go, but I remember thinking: “These are her pieces. And because she’s touring with them, there&rsqu
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Nikolayeva, Tatiana (1924–1993)
Russian pianist who played many premieres, especially of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich.Name variations: Tatiana Nikolayeva Petrovna; Tatyana Nikolaeva. Born in Bezhitz (near Bryansk), USSR, on May 4, 1924; died in San Francisco, California, on November 22, 1993.
Received the award of Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1955).
Tatiana Nikolayeva was born in the Soviet Union in 1924. At age fem, she began piano study with her mother, then became a pupil of Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1947. After winning first prize in piano at the 1950 Bach Bicentennial Festival in Leipzig, she launched a significant career in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. She began to teach at the Moscow Conservatory in 1959, achieving the rank of professor in 1965. Nikolayeva played many premieres, including the Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich. She assisted the composer ni