Official Trailer: Season 6 Eps.17 "Music as Witness" feat. Anna Shelest

4 May 2026 · 2 min

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2:08

This content was created by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This content was uploaded by The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. This is a YouTube trailer titled "Official Trailer: Season 6 Eps.17 'Music as Witness' feat. Anna Shelest" (created 2026-05-04). The excerpt features concert pianist Anna Shelest discussing her lifelong relationship with the piano, her interest in lesser-known repertoire and women composers, and how the war in Ukraine has influenced her artistic choices. A second speaker (narrator) frames the segment and announces the episode premiere (May 5 at 8 PM ET). The content is a promotional preview for an episode exploring music, memory, and the voices of women composers.

My love for the piano and my curiosity about it, I think there is something maybe from childhood that stays with you, and then it kind of takes you on this journey. Still, I want to always stay surprised by the music that I'm finding.
Beyond the Canon. In an upcoming episode, concert pianist Anna Scheles traces her roots from Kharkiv, Ukraine Ukraine, and through the voices of women composers, she continues to discover with playing that speaks for itself.
I had very traditional education. I played a lot of very traditional repertoire. I did piano competitions, so you really get to know kind of the canon. But I think what attracted me first to things that maybe I've never heard this piece before, or maybe there's not a recording of this piece before, I think at first it was kind of sense of freedom. And tradition is certainly, it's a very valuable thing, but, you know, playing something, maybe it will be piece by like very famous composer, but not so well known. It just made me see a different side of even kind of my approach to interpretation. And then of course, as an artist, I think we all react to the world around us about, you react to conversations in society, different political movements. Ukrainian war certainly had a deep effect on me. My work with women composers, I think also is a conversation about women in society, their roles, you know, what historically the struggles they had. I think it, all of these things, they affect you. And then I feel you choose repertoire that sort of reflect your state of mind and what you care about.
"Music as Witness: Anna Schallist on Ukraine, Forgotten Repertoire, and the Power of Music" premieres tomorrow, Tuesday, May 5th at 8 PM Eastern Time. See you soon!