Duo Vershinina/Lee, piano duo

Duo Vershinina Lee are Chiahu Lee and Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

For both of us, our parents have been a huge source of support in our formation as musicians. They have always encouraged us, nurtured our belief in ourselves, and to this day they cheer us on.

We both have enormous admiration for the great Bach gurus, from Glenn Gould to András Schiff. Our teachers have also been key influences, particularly our teachers from Manchester: Helen Krizos for Chia-Chia and Richard Ormrod for Yulia.

These days, our collaboration has become an influence in its own right. Playing together, we have become a source of inspiration for each other, because we nurture different sides of each other’s musicality. That allows us to be more daring, adventurous and confident in what we want to express.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Overcoming self-doubt and performance anxiety. It is especially true when you perform repertoire that is so personal. Half of our programme is composed of Chia-Chia’s own arrangements and recompositions, mostly of Bach’s music. That inner voice wondering what the musical establishment might say can be terrifying, and it keeps coming back at every stage: while creating, in rehearsals, during recording and performance, and once the music is out in the world and we wait for its reception.

It is a true blessing to receive so much support, acknowledgement and positive feedback. It probably will never fully quieten the self-doubt, but it adds up in a kind of memory box. When the doubt creeps in, we can pull some thing out of it and as a reminder that we have done it. Nobody booed us or threw tomatoes at us! Quite the opposite: the music has been very well received by a wide audience!

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

All of our performances this year actually, as it feels like we have reached a level of trust and confidence in our musical partnership that truly allows us to be in the moment. We both remember fondly several moments from our performance at the Valentiny Foundation and from our recitals in Taipei, when there was a real sense that time stood still. And obviously, for a musician, those moments are truly precious.

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

Bach, without a doubt. Our next project, however, will most likely not involve Bach, but it will still be Chia-Chia’s own arrangements. We particularly enjoy performing our own reworkings, as Chia-Chia’s arrangements are a way of digging even deeper into what we love about these pieces.

For Chia-Chia, it allows her to bring out something she hears and perceives in music she already connects with. For Yulia, it offers a little glimpse into music she knows well through the eyes of someone she admires and trusts as a musician. It adds an extra dimension to music that is already so deep and multi-layered.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

Usually each new programme has a seed from a previous project. Whenever we are working on something, we have several ideas that we are keen to explore in the future. Then we just let nature take its course, and usually one of those seeds ends up blossoming into our next project.

We are lucky to be very much on the same page in terms of what interests us musically. We also feel that we have already built a whole musical language, repertoire and sound world together, and our duo seems the perfect place to keep exploring it.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

In a venue, there are two things we care about most: a great piano and great acoustics. Thankfully, we have been fortunate to find both in several places. Yet the Philharmonie Luxembourg holds a very special place in our hearts, being the first concert hall where we performed together. We will be returning there to perform both our Bach cycles in March 2027.

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

In our case, it is everything that builds trust between us, as trust allows us to be spontaneous and respond in the moment during performance, and that is something we truly value in our collaboration. So off stage, that would mean lots of heart to heart conversations, lots of shared delicious meals, lots of laughter and lots of board games.

As musicians, what is your definition of success?

For us, success is having the freedom and self-reliance to perform the music you love.

It is also working with people you trust. Our duo has grown out of a unique and wonderful friendship, and we believe there is nothing more precious than being able to work with someone you possibly trust more than you trust yourself.

And finally, it is simply enjoying what you do: having your musical projects become your greatest source of joy and inspiration in life.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

All the myths around artists, composers and art are the most detrimental thing in our opinion. Classical music in itself is highly attractive and accessible, and it doesn’t need simplifying or a big fanfare to draw people in. We need to build trust between artists and audiences, so that people can see musicians and composers as relatable human beings.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?

How difficult it can be to make a sustainable living as a freelance musician. There’s so much work that happens behind the scenes that people don’t necessarily see, and musicians are often expected to do a huge amount while being significantly underpaid for their time and expertise.

What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?

Don’t forget to look after your mental health. The people you surround yourself with really matter, so try to build a supportive environment around you and don’t feel that you have to stay in situations that are toxic or constantly make you doubt yourself.

What is your most treasured possession?

Our bodies. When you think about it, they are what truly allows us to do what we do. They give us our strength and endurance, and our feelings live in them. Through our bodies, we express ourselves at the instrument, and that is how we connect with the music and with our listeners.

Cantata (re)mixed four hands from piano Duo Vershinina Lee (Chiahu Lee and Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay) is an exciting album of J.S. Bach’s Cantatas arranged/re-composed by Chiahu Lee and György Kúrtag, released on the Diversions label