Tatiana Khaninova was born in the Poltava district of the Ukraine and selected at an early age to attend the Central Music School, which was maintained by Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory as a preparatory school for musically-gifted children. Later, she studied piano at the Gnessin Academy, where her teachers included Liliana Khovan and renowned Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

After receiving her doctorate at the Gnessin school, Ms. Khaninova embarked on an international concert career that has included both solo recitals and performances with orchestra in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Japan, and the United States.

Since 1993, she and Andrei Gorbachev have teamed regularly as a balalaika-piano duo that has won both wide recognition and many musical awards.