Education
Moscow Conservatory.
composer music educator musician pianist
Moscow Conservatory.
He was a disciple of Konstantin Igumnov at the Moscow Conservatory. Foreign several decades his concert career was restricted to the Soviet scene. Shtarkman was a professor at the Gnessin State Musical College and the Moscow Conservatory.
From the Russian Wikipedia page: The first concert with an orchestra, Mendelssohn concerto, he has played at age 11.
Incredibly quickly, a year later, he gave a solo concert at the Great Hall of the Conservatory, a program which consisted of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt. However, shortly thereafter, Shtarkman was arrested and convicted under Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (homosexuality).
He was arrested in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, hours before he was scheduled to perform at a factory, as a special performance. Despite the brevity of the incarceration (8 years), this has totally shattered his concert career: thor years Shtarkman was allowed only to perform in the far off provinces or in the secondary concert halls.
The arrest had also become an impediment to educational activities of Shtarkman: from 1969 he freelanced unofficially at the School of Gnessin and only in 1987 became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.
After that he began to perform in many countries around the world. Since 1993, Shtarkman was the permanent chairman of the jury of the International Competition of Pianists named after Igumnov, ongoing in Lipetsk.