It was late August 1895. Ilya Ilyich Slatin—an outstanding pianist, conductor, and teacher, and the pride and joy of Kharkiv—returned happily from Berlin. And no wonder—after all, he hadn’t traveled to the capital of the German Empire for no reason. He had been invited to Berlin to serve as a member of the jury at the A. G. Rubinstein International Music Competition.
Ilya Ilyich’s return journey home to Kharkiv takes him through Warsaw. During his brief stop there, he receives a more than tempting offer from the Governor-General of Warsaw. The thing is, Count Pavel Andreevich Shuvalov offers Slatin the opportunity to leave his post as director of the Kharkiv Music School to become director of the Warsaw Music Institute. Slatin faces a difficult choice—between the city of Kharkiv and opulent Warsaw, home to one of the world’s oldest music institutions.
So what did Slatin choose?!
Despite all the benefits and prospects, Ilya Ilyich rejected Count Shuvalov’s offer because he could not bring himself to leave Kharkiv, a city dear to his heart. After all, it was in Kharkiv that his two favorite projects were located: the Kharkiv Branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society and the Kharkiv Music School.
Here’s what an amazing story that was. What would you have done if you were in Ilya Ilyich’s shoes?
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