Maksym Shadko — piano
Maksym Shadko was born on 21 August 1993 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. From 2000 to 2011, he studied at the Kharkiv Secondary Specialised Music Boarding School under Natalia Avramenko, an Honoured Teacher of Ukraine and music educator. In 2011, he entered the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts, where he studied under Tetyana Verkina, People’s Artist of Ukraine and Professor. In 2015, he received his Bachelor’s degree, followed by a Master’s degree in Music in 2016. He continued his studies in a postgraduate performance programme under the artistic supervision of Tetyana Verkina, and subsequently pursued doctoral studies at the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts under the academic supervision of Adilia Mizitova, PhD in Art Studies and Associate Professor. In 2022, he defended his doctoral dissertation and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). His dissertation was entitled The Phenomenon of the Prepared Piano in the Works of George Crumb.
Since 2023, Maksym Shadko has been a solo instrumentalist at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. From 2016 to 2026, he taught in the Departments of Chamber Ensemble and Piano Performance at the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts. Since 2025, he has also taught piano performance at the Mykola Lysenko Kyiv State Music Lyceum. In 2025, he was awarded the Levko Revutsky State Prize.
Maksym Shadko is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the Volodymyr Krainev International Young Pianists Competition (Second Prize, Ukraine), the Young Pianists Competition In the Homeland of Sergei Prokofiev (Second Prize, Ukraine), the Crimean Spring Competition (First Prize, Ukraine), the A Night in Madrid International Competition and Festival (First Prize, Spain), the Borys Lyatoshynsky Memorial International Competition and Festival (Special Prize, France), the inaugural Kharkiv Assemblies Music Competition (First Prize, Ukraine), the Kyiv International Competition (Second Prize, Ukraine), and the Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition (Second Prize, 2021, Spain).
Shadko regularly participates in international music festivals, including Kharkiv Music Fest, Contrasts, Virtuosi, Bouquet Kyiv Stage, Liatoshynsky Space, Kharkiv Assemblies, Music Is Our Common Home, At Aivazovsky’s, French Spring in Ukraine, and others. In 2013 and 2014, he co-organised the International Festival of Young Composers and Performers, Days of New Music in Kharkiv.
As a soloist, Maksym Shadko has performed with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, the National Honoured Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the National Ensemble of Soloists Kyiv Camerata, the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic, the INSO-Lviv Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Odesa National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dnipropetrovsk Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Kharkiv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Slobozhansky Youth Academic Symphony Orchestra, and the Student Symphony Orchestra of the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts, with which he toured Germany in 2015.
He has collaborated with conductors Mykola Diadiura, Volodymyr Sirenko, Rok Fargas, Vincent Kozlovsky, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Natalia Ponomarchuk, Oleksandr Gordon, Allin
Vlasenko, Viktor Ploskina, Dmytro Lohvin, Yurii Bervezky, Viktoria Zhadko, Yurii Yanko, Yurii Nasushkin, Yurii Yakovenko, Shaliko Paltadzhyan, Ihor Shapovalov, and Pavlo Bahinsky.
Shadko continually develops his artistic skills by participating in masterclasses led by distinguished pianists and pedagogues, including Professors Pavel Gililov, Wolfgang Manz, Milana Chernyavska, Giuliano Mazzoccante, Sergei Edelmann, and Lev Natochenny. In 2020, he was personally selected by Maestro Murray Perahia to participate in a masterclass organised by the renowned music publisher G. Henle Verlag to mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. In 2023, he attended masterclasses organised by the Wilhelm Kempff Cultural Foundation in Positano, Italy, dedicated to Robert Schumann’s chamber music. There, he collaborated with pianist William Youn and cellist Julian Steckel.
In 2025, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Classical Music Foundation, Shadko released Music of Kharkiv, an album featuring recordings of works by composers from Kharkiv. The release is available on streaming platforms.
Maksym Shadko has received scholarships from the President of Ukraine, Rotary Clubs in Kharkiv, the M. Yeshchenko Foundation, and a foundation supporting young gifted individuals. Since 2018, he has collaborated with and received grant support from the VERE MUSIC FUND.
Photo: VERE MUSIC FUND