right|300px|thumb|Maria Yudina

'''Maria Veniaminovna Yudina''' or '''Mariya Yudina''' (, ''Marija Veniamnovna Yudina'') (28 August (O.S.) - September 9 1899 &ndash; November 19 1970) was a Russian pianist.

Yudina was born in Petrograd Conservatory under Bach and Beethoven, she was a keen champion of contemporary composers including works of her good friend Shostakovich. Yudina was also a highly regarded champion of J. S. Bach's music. Some have claimed that Yudina's way of playing Bach foreshadows the style of Glenn Gould.

Yudina was one of the few Soviet artists who openly opposed the Communist regime, resulting in her being banned from teaching or performing on stage on several occasions. She can also be considered one of the great Christian thinkers of Russia in the twentieth century (among her friends was the philosopher Pavel Florensky).

After her graduation from the Petrograd Conservatory, Yudina was invited to teach there, which she did until 1930, when she was thrown out of the institution because of her religious convictions and vocal criticism of the Soviet leadership. After being unemployed and homeless for a couple of years, Yudina was invited to teach the graduate piano course at the Gnessins Institute (now Gnessin Russian Academy of Music).  In 1960, Maria Yudina was thrown out of the Gnessins Institute because of her religious attitudes and her advocation of modern Western music. She continued to perform in public, but her recitals were forbidden to be recorded. After an incident during one of her recitals in Leningrad, when she read Boris Pasternak's poetry from the stage as encore, Yudina was banned from performing for five years.  In 1966, when the ban was lifted, Maria Yudina gave a cycle of lectures on Romanticism at the Moscow Conservatory.

Yudina has the distinction of being Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 on the radio performed by Yudina and asked for a copy.  It was a live broadcast so officials woke up Yudina, drove her to a recording studio where a small orchestra had quickly been assembled, and made her record the concerto in the middle of the night, a single copy was pressed from the matrix and then presented to Stalin (the matrix has survived and the recording has been available on CD). It is said that he broke out in tears after hearing only the first notes of Yudina's playing. Despite the recognition from Stalin the pianist remained an uncompromising critic of the Stalinist regime with unprecedented impunity. She was awarded the Stalin Prize and donated its monetary portion to the Orthodox Church for "perpetual prayers for Stalin's sins". She died in Moscow in 1970.

Yudina's playing was marked by great virtuosity, spirituality, an almost masculine strength and intellectual rigor. However, her playing was also very individual in style and tone.

The art of Yudina represents a whole epoch in the Russian cultural history. Unlike other fellow musicians, Yudina always tried to go beyond her major, making friends and collaborating with famous writers, artists and architects.

'''Maria Yudina''' (russe, opposante au régime soviétique, convertie à la foi orthodoxe mais admirée par Staline. Défenseur et interprète de la musique russe de son époque.

==Biographie==
Maria Veniaminovna Yudina ou Mariya Yudina (Russe: Мария Вениаминовна Юдина, Marija Veniamnovna Yudina) (28 Août (O.S.) – 9 septembre , 1899 – 19 Novembre 1970) pianiste russe.

Maria Yudina est née à Nevel en Russie. Elle commence à jouer du piano à l’age de 7 ans sous la direction d’une élève d’Anton Rubinstein : Frida Teitelbaui-Levinson. Elle a d’abord étudié au conservatoire de Saint Petersbourg avec Anna Essipova et Leonid Nikolayev. Elle a également brièvement étudié en privé avec Felix Blumenfeld. Etudient en même temps qu’elle Dimitri Shostakovich et Vladimir Sofronitsky. 

Principalement connue pour ses interprétations de Bach et de Beethoven, elle s’est surtout faite le champion de compositeurs contemporains comme son ami Dimitri Shostakovich. Ses interprétations de Bach peuvent être considérées comme préfigurant le style de Glenn Gould.

Maria Yudina fait partie des rares artistes soviétiques ouvertement opposés au régime communiste, d’où son interdiction d’enseigner et de se produire sur scène à différentes occasions. Elle fut aussi un des grands penseurs chrétiens de la Russie du XXème siècle (parmi ses amis était le philosophe Pavel Florensky). Sa foi orthodoxe sous tend toute son œuvre.

Après avoir été diplômée du conservatoire de Saint Petersbourg, Maria Yudina a été invitée à y enseigner jusqu’en 1930. Elle en a été chassée à cause de ses convictions religieuses et de ses critiques ouvertes du système soviétique. Sans emploi et sans toit pendant quelques années, Maria Yudina va enseigner le piano au conservatoire de Tbilisi (1932-1933). En 1936, sur les conseils de Heinrich Neuhaus, Maria Yudina est entrée au comme professeur au conservatoire de Moscou où elle a enseigné jusqu en 1951. De 1944 à 1960, Maria Yudina a aussi enseigné la musique de chambre et vocale à l’institut Gnessins (actuel Académie russe de musique). En 1960 Maria Yudina a été limogée de l’institut Gnessin à cause de ses convictions religieuses et de sa défense de la musique moderne occidentale. Elle continua à se produire en public mais elle avait interdiction d’enregistrer ses récitals. Elle fut interdite de scène pendant 5 ans suite à sa lecture d’un poème de Boris Pasternak sur scène. En 1966 lors de la levée de l’interdiction, Maria Yudina a donné un cycle de conférences sur le romantisme au conservatoire de Moscou.