Incredibly quickly, a year later, he gave a solo concert at the Great Hall of the Conservatory, a program which consisted of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt.
In 1944 he began studying at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of the great pianist and teacher Konstantin Igumnov.
However, shortly thereafter, Shtarkman was arrested and convicted under Article 121 [ru] of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (homosexuality).
The arrest had also become an impediment to educational activities of Shtarkman: from 1969 he freelanced unofficially at the Gnessin State Musical College and only in 1987 became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.
Since 1993, Shtarkman was the permanent chairman of the jury of the International Competition of Pianists named after Igumnov, ongoing in Lipetsk.