Statement of the problem. The professional activity and contribution of Professor Yulii Fedorovych Vakhraniov to the development of the Kharkiv piano school, musical pedagogy and domestic art studies has not yet been adequately covered. This challenge served as the main impetus of writing this work, which is a logical continuation of a number of studies devoted to the work of such outstanding piano teachers of Kharkiv National University of Arts as Regina Horovyts (Rudenko, 2001), Maria Yeshchenko (Kononova, 2009), Vsevolod Topilin (Pinchuk, 2012; 2018): Viktor Siryatsky (Sukhlenko, 2012) and others. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of the pedagogical and academic activities of Yu. Vakhraniov in the development of the Kharkiv piano school. The paper provides a brief analysis of the main scholarly studies of Yu. F. Vakharanev; an overview of his general pedagogical methods and principles due to which the article has a certain scientific novelty. Revealing the specifics of Yu. Vakhraniov’s pedagogical activity determined the application of general and special research methods, namely: historical, phenomenological and hermeneutic (interpretive) ones, the method of comparative analysis and systems approach when considering his pedagogical views and principles. Results. For many years of work, Yu. Vakhraniov has trained many professional musicians. He obtained multifaceted higher education: philological and musical, worked at Donetsk Music College, and then at Kharkiv Institute of Arts and Kharkiv Specialized Secondary Music Boarding School, graduated from the postgraduate studies at Kyiv Conservatory majoring in the History and Theory of Pianism (1969), defended his Ph.D. thesis (Vakhraniov, 1971) supervised by A. D. Alekseev. Later Yu. Vakhranev was awarded the academic title of a professor and for ten years he was the Head of the Special Piano Department (1977–1987) at Kharkiv Institute (University) of Arts. Among his fundamental research works, one should mention his reference book “Etudes, Op. 10 by Frederic Chopin” written in co-authorship with G. Sladkovskaya, monograph “V. Kosenko’s Piano Etudes” (1970), articles “National specifics of Igor Shamo’s piano work” (1969) and “Clavier and clavier music of Ukraine from the middle of the XVII – first quarter of the XIX century in historical and literary materials” (1992), monograph “The performance of music (Poetics)” (1994), which was not only a deep research work, but also a philosophical treatise. The work at individual piano lessons was substantiated from the view point of the concept and dramatization of the piece, its interpretative tasks; great attention was paid to the culture of sound, pedalization, development of various types of techniques, the art of mastering the key touch. Intonement inextricably linked with the art of sound production can rightfully be called the hallmark of the pedagogical principles of Yu. Vakhraniov. Each student was assigned individual tasks and he understood well the abilities of each of his students. When choosing a programme, the Professor followed a clear methodologically structured system of pieces, which belonged to different styles and corresponded to a particular epoch. Special attention Yu. Vakhranev paid to the development of industriousness and spirituality in his students. The conclusions emphasise the significant role of Yu. Vakhraniov in the development of the Kharkiv pianistic school. The study of his main works on arts made it possible to identify the range of research issues that Yu. Vakhraniov was engaged in. Among them are studies of both samples of Western art and the work of domestic composers. In this connection, his monograph “The performance of music (Poetics)” deserves special attention. Comparison of pedagogical methods and principles, teaching moments and semantic accents, which were given special attention, as well as the general atmosphere of the lessons that remained in the memory of the students taught by Yu. Vakhraniov, made it possible to conclude that the teacher had a unique pedagogical system based on an intelligent approach to training professional musicians. The study considers the concept of “class” as a multidimensional phenomenon associated with the process of training future professional musicians. Expanded and rethought, it approaches the concept of “professional level”. If the “piano school” is a complex of traditions supported by subsequent generations and characteristic of a specific geographical place or educational institution, then the “class” is a pedagogical system headed by a specific representative of musical art: a teacher and a spiritual leader