REVIEW: South Windsor Cultural Arts, "Shelest Piano Duo"

South Windsor, CT
www.facebook.com/SouthWindsorCulturalArts
March 22, 2026
by Michael J. Moran

An enthusiastic full house in South Windsor was treated to a captivating debut appearance by acclaimed Ukrainian-born pianists Anna and Dmitri Shelest. First meeting as students at the Kharkiv Special Music School, they later married and began performing together as a piano duo after moving to the US. The imaginative program shed new light on familiar music and introduced unfamiliar repertoire that should be better known.

It opened with an exuberant reading of the Overture to Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” arranged by Charlie Harmon, showcasing both the emotional sensitivity and technical precision of this four-hands team playing the same keyboard, Dmitri, the low notes, Anna, the high. This was followed by the deeply felt of Variations on a Shaker Melody from Aaron Copland’s ballet “Appalachian Spring,” flowing without pause into “Carpathian Song,” an original piece written in folk style by contemporary Ukrainian cellist-composer Zoltan Almashi.  

Next came beautifully characterized performances of five Romantic Pieces (1890) for piano duet by once-popular French composer Cecile Chaminade, whose lovely music is now being rediscovered. Introducing their virtuosic rendition of Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre,” Dmitri noted a “special bond” the Shelests feel with Ukrainian-born pianist Vladimir Horowitz, whose sister Regina taught for many years at the Kharkiv School.

Composer Theodore Akimenko was born in Kharkiv in 1876 but lived for many years in Paris, where his music was influenced by French impressionism. His ravishing folk inflected Six Ukrainian Dances for piano duet (1925) received affectionate readings from the duo.

The concert closed with George Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue". Dmitri’s opening notes replaced the famous clarinet glissando in the orchestral version with pianistic elegance. Anna’s delicate handiwork in the upper keyboard filled in expressively for the missing strings and woodwinds. The power of their combined sound in climaxes had an almost orchestral sonority.

The charismatic stage presence of both performers was apparent not only in their carefully balanced playing but in the personal engagement with which they alternately introduced each musical selection, highlighting how profoundly both their home (the US) and homeland (Ukraine) have shaped the duo's artistry.  

 SWCA will next present pianist Wynona Wang on April 12 at 4:00 pm.