Musical Class Reunion
Students Organize Concert in Honor of Piano Professor Grigory Gruzman
For two decades, Grigory Gruzman has served as professor of piano at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar, successfully training numerous young pianists during this time. Many of them now perform on international stages, hold professorships, or work as teachers in other educational settings.
In honor of Grigory Gruzman, who has continued to teach on a part-time basis since his retirement, his former and current students are organizing a “class reunion of a special kind”: A public anniversary concert will take place on Friday, May 8 at 6:00 p.m. in the Festsaal Fürstenhaus, featuring a diverse program ranging from the Baroque to the present day. Admission is free!
Hosted by students, the first half of the concert will feature, among other works, excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach’s English Suite No. 3, three preludes by George Gershwin, and an homage by Alfred Schnittke to Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich for piano six hands. After the intermission, the audience can look forward to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 448, Franz Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase, and Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March for piano eight hands.
“Prof. Gruzman is simply a pedagogical and pianistic genius—there’s no other way to put it,” praises his student Clara Reinisch, who helped organize the concert. “He is someone who guides you from the basics to the final touches, helping you develop into an independent artist. Hardly anyone else is able to encourage, understand, and nurture students—both as pianists and, above all, as people—the way he does. That’s why it’s an incredible joy for all of us to come together this evening and celebrate by making music together.”
[29 April 2026]