This program presents an exceptional opportunity to encounter Dmitri Shostakovich’s (1906-1975) chamber writing through three of his most substantial instrumental sonatas — for violin, cello, and viola. Composed across nearly three decades, these works form a compelling triptych that mirrors the composer’s artistic evolution: from the wartime austerity of the 1940s, through the introspective lyricism of the 1960s, to the stark, distilled expression of his final creative period. The Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40 (1934) belongs to an earlier, more classical phase of Shostakovich’s chamber style, yet it already demonstrates the expressive duality so characteristic of his music: sardonic brilliance set against lyrical vulnerability. Written for the cellist Viktor Kubatsky, the sonata’s opening movement blends traditional sonata form with sweeping, vocal lyricism. The scherzo is sharply etched, almost grotesque in its motoric insistence, while the slow movement offers a luminous stillness that anticipates the introspective tone of Shostakovich’s later works. The exuberant finale, by contrast, carries a spirited, even theatrical wit — though edged with the composer’s unmistakable shadows. The Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 134 (1968) was written for David Oistrakh, whose technical and expressive range pushed Shostakovich toward an unusually intricate formal design. Conceived in three movements, the sonata juxtaposes serial writing with unmistakably personal melodic gestures. The opening Andante unfolds as a kind of ceremonial procession, the central Allegretto bristles with acerbic wit and rhythmic displacement, and the closing Largo — an extended passacaglia — stands among Shostakovich’s most monumental late statements, built from relentless variations that accumulate emotional weight with architectural rigor.  Completing the triptych is the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (1975), Shostakovich’s final composition, finished only weeks before his death. Written for Fyodor Druzhinin, the work possesses a distilled, elegiac calm — a language stripped of ornament, in which every gesture carries existential weight. The opening Moderato moves with quiet inevitability; the central Allegretto recalls Shostakovich’s characteristic irony, though now softened into fragile reminiscence; and the finale pays explicit homage to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, weaving quotations into a continuous meditation on mortality, memory, and artistic lineage. Sparse yet deeply resonant, the viola sonata stands as a summation of Shostakovich’s late style, and, in a sense, as his farewell. Taken together, these three sonatas trace not only the trajectory of an extraordinary creative life, but also Shostakovich’s lifelong dialogue between structure and emotion, public language and private voice. Heard in a single evening, they offer a rare, panoramic insight into one of the 20th century’s most compelling musical imaginations.