Maria Yeshchenko was born into a family of musicians in 1923, in Kharkov, USSR.

She began her musical studies when she was five. At age thirteen Maria was accepted into a prestigious music study group for gifted children (now, a special boarding school of music).

After graduation from youth studies, she was admitted to the Kharkov Conservatory.

From there, she further continued her education at the Graduate School in the Moscow Conservatory, as a student protege in the class of Professor S.E. Feinberg.

In 1950, Maria won the much lauded prize at the Smetana Competition in Prague. Czechoslovakia.

In 1954. Maria completed her Ph.D .in the musical arts, Her dissertation was two parts theoretical, and one-part performance. (Maria was the first to do something like this) .

After Graduate School, Maria returned to the Kharkov Conservatory, where she worked as a professor and Chair of the Piano Department for forty years. There, she mentored over seventy students into their own musical careers.

During these years, Dr. Yeshchenko continued to travel all over the Soviet Union performing both solo and with orchestras.

Maria is one of the few pianists who has played all thirty-two sonatas of Beethoven. Her broad repertoire included many performances, not only of Beethoven, but also Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Haydn, Bach and many other classical and contemporary composers.

In 1992, M. Yeshchenko immigrated to the United States of America. There, she continued to practice her piano diligently every day, study English, as well as give her time (pro bono) and talents to performances wherever an opportunity presented itself.

Maria Yeshchenko died in 2000.

Her love for children (she had five of her own) and music inspired the creation of Tie Music Foundation of M. Yeshchenko in 2001.