‘Professors’ music,’ or Klavierabend for two
On December 5, the Higher School of Economics hosted the Piano Evening for Two. The event lasted two hours, during which time Michel Grabisch, Professor of Computer Sciences at University Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne, and Sergei Erofeev, Vice Rector of HSE, performed compositions by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Ravel and Bach.
Michel Grabisch came to HSE to give several lectures on the theory of multi-criteria choice theory, preference modeling, and cooperative game theory. But knowing that Professor Grabisch has played piano for more than 10 years and plays in several chamber ensembles, HSE Professor Fuad Aleskerov, who invited Grabisch, suggested that Professor Grabisch give a concert.
Sergei Erofeev, a sociologist and the Higher School of Economics’ Vice-Rector for International Affairs, performed alongside Grabisch at the event. Erofeev is also a musician and an alumnus of Kazan State Conservatoire, where he studied piano. In the 1990s, Erofeev switched from his musical career to an academic one.
When presenting the musicians to the audience, the supervisor of the Professors' Wednesdays series, Marina Lebed, drew attention to the fact that this concert was to a certain degree a return to the initial format – meetings with professors where music was an added plus. But in the project’s 10 years of existence, its musical portion has become its own event. Some of the best musicians of Russia have performed at HSE, and the genre and time boundaries have grown; concerts are not only held on Wednesdays now, and performances by ‘real’ professors have become an enjoyable part of Professors’ Wednesdays.
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Evgenia Kondrashina graduated with honours from the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF) bachelor’s programme in 2005 before going on to receive her master’s from the London School of Economics. An excellent student, Evgenia for a long time thought that the next logical step would be a prestigious career at a top English consulting firm, but the idea of following in others’ footsteps doesn’t make everyone happy. Evgenia deviated from this trajectory and found herself in one of the world’s leading orchestras – the London Symphony Orchestra – where she continues to work today.
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