“She radiates intelligence, life, beauty, wit and laughter; her pragmatic approach is ideal, and a model of love for one’s neighbor in concrete situations; she is self-assured and modest at the same time. Whenever she enters a room or a concert hall, it’s like a sunrise.” Those are the fond words chosen by eminent German music critic Eleonore Büning to describe Elena Bashkirova in her laudation on the occasion of the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize in 2018. Born in Moscow, music was practically laid in Bashkirova’s cradle: her father, the late Dmitri Bashkirov, was a legendary piano pedagogue, and naturally he was her only teacher. Bashkirova has always remained true and committed to the musical tradition of the 19th century; it is thus no surprise that she feels a special affinity with Schumann, the great Romantic poet of the piano. On the occasion of her 24th performance at the Ruhr Piano Festival, she devotes the entire first half of her recital in Rheda-Wiedenbrück to Schumann, before featuring Liszt’s solo piano arrangement of Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (“To the distant beloved”) in the second half: this rarely performed gem is a summit encounter between two gigantic musical composers!