Vsevolod Zakharchenko was a Ukrainian pianist and teacher. He was born in Luhansk on December 20, 1930, and began studying music at the age of seven. At fifteen he entered the music college in Kazan as a piano student. After graduating, he continued his education at the Kazan Conservatory and later transferred to the Gnessin State Musical-Pedagogical Institute.
At the Gnessin institute, Zakharchenko studied with the distinguished pianist Elena Gnessina. He also studied with Theodor Gutman, a Soviet pianist who had been taught by Józef Turczyński and Heinrich Neuhaus. He completed his studies in 1949, and his institute diploma was signed by Yakov Zak, the Russian pianist and winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The article also states that after graduating from the institute in 1955, he worked for two years at the Kazan College.
After his work in Kazan, Zakharchenko taught at the Novosibirsk Music College from 1957 and at the Novosibirsk Conservatory from 1959. During this period he successfully combined teaching with performing. In 1961 he moved first to Alma-Ata and then worked at the Tashkent Conservatory as an associate professor in the special piano department, where he inherited the class of Rudolf Kerer.
From 1964, after winning a competitive appointment, Zakharchenko taught at the Kharkiv Institute of Arts as an associate professor in the special piano department. In 1969 he became head of that department. From 1972 he was appointed artistic director of the Kharkiv Regional Philharmonic.
Alongside his pedagogical work, Zakharchenko appeared many times in conservatory concerts as both a soloist and an ensemble performer. His concerts received positive notices in the press. One critic, Z. Yuferova, described the essential traits of his artistry as sincerity, immediacy of expression, emotional uplift, and captivating temperament, adding that these qualities, together with a vivid reading of the composer’s intention, strong technical equipment, and a beautiful, expressive sound, accounted for his success as a performer.
Although Zakharchenko worked at the Kharkiv Conservatory for less than ten years, he taught a significant number of students who continued his work. Among them were Tetyana Verkina, later rector of the I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts; O. V. Kononova; L. A. Kuzyomina; V. Klymovsky, organist of the Kharkiv Philharmonic; O. Sklyarov, soloist of the Kharkiv Regional Philharmonic; Natalia Koposhilova; V. Vasylets; O. Hnatovska, a pianist and composer; A. Nastenko; as well as Zita Huseyn-Zade, Lev Koshkin, and Sima Fradkina.
His graduates remembered him as a “teacher from God.” He was noted for his subtle feeling for each student’s individuality and creative and pianistic potential. He worked meticulously on every detail of performance, including tone shading, phrase construction, and precision of articulation. He did not allow technical carelessness or excessive use of the pedal, and he often recalled Elena Gnessina’s sharp reaction to any sign of amateurism among students, following her principles in his own professional activity.