Sonata N15

Maria Yudina was born in Nevel, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire. First piano lessons she took at the age of 6. In 1912 she entered St. Petersburg Conservatory, in 1921 finished it and started her career playing at the Petrograd Philharmonic Orchestra. Her first concert took place in Moscow in 1929. In 1930 Maria Yudina was fired from the Leningrad Conservatory after newspaper publications, only after 2 years she managed to become the professor of Tbilisi Conservatory, in 1936 worked at Moscow Conservatory until 1951. From 1944-1960 she taught at the Gnessin Institute of Moscow. In 1960 she was fired from Gnessin Institute because of her Orthodox beliefs and sympathy for modern Western music. She continued her public concerts but was not allowed to do records. When she read the poems of Boris Pasternak, she was forbidden to do concerts for five years. Her last concert was in 1969. Maria Yudina died in Moscow, she is buried at Vvedenskoye Cemetery.