Vladimir Shakin was born in Legnitz, Poland in 1954.

 Early childhoods impressions influenced his musical development: Chopin works found a special place in the artist's repertoire. Mr. Shakin's musical vision and style were formed in the artistic atmosphere of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) of the 60's and 70's. At the St. Petersburg Conservatory he was a student of it's two leading professors - P. Serebryakov and V. Nilsen. While working toward his graduate and post-graduate degrees Mr. Shakin began concertizing actively. His debut came in 1976 at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall with an all-Beethoven program; concert tours of Germany, Czech Republic and Finland followed.

Vladimir Shakin is a prize winner of several international piano competitions including Beethoven (Vienna), Schumann (Zwickau), Liszt (Budapest). His numerous performances in Russia, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, Japan, South Korea, USA were critically acclaimed by major newspapers and magazines.

Mr. Shakin's recordings were released by Melodiya, Sony, Diapason, Yamaha and Audiophile Classics. He has recorded a special series of 10 monograph programs for St. Petersburg TV.

Such programs are favored by artist in recordings as well as in live performances: his repertoire includes three all-Chopin recital programs, Rachmaninoff's 24 Preludes, Liszt's Harmonies Poetiques et Relegiouses, several Schumann's programs and all Beethoven's piano works (performed in a series of concerts at the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Hall).

Vladimir Shakin has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Leipziger Gewandhaus Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic in collaboration with conductors such as M. Shostakovitch, V. Tchernushenko, V. Dudarova, A. Titov, V. Ziva (Russia), D. Nemet, A. Ligeti (Hungary), M. Cruz (Portugal), T. Honna (Japan), M. Nachev (Bulgaria), G. Rose (Gr.Britain), E. Nicotra (Italy).

Since 1982 Vladimir Shakin has been a faculty member at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Since 1998 Mr.Shakin has been combining his work in Conservatory with teaching as a professor of piano of the Russian State Pedagogy University. Annually since 1999 professor Shakin is on the faculty of International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF, www.ikif.org) in the Mannes College, NY, USA.

Since September 2003 Vladimir Shakin is faculty professor of the College of Music at the Yeungnam University (http://www.yu.ac.kr/english/index-eng.html), Gyeongsan, South Korea. He performs actively as a soloist, and in chamber music concerts in Seoul and in many other Korean cities, makes recordings and gives open master-classes.

In order to arrange piano master classes or piano concerts in your country, please e-mail: vladimir_shakin@yahoo.com