It has been years since their playing together while being students in Boston, when Pi- Hsun Shih has found Tanya Anisimova on the web and wrote to her. The two have not seen each other for all these years, but as soon as they got to play together again it was clear: they’d better not stop now. There was an unmistakable electricity in their musicmaking, an abundance of inspiration they received from each other, and, most of all, the power to move their listeners, which came from their own enjoyment of performing. The joy of playing for the audience cannot really be taught. It must be of innate quality. When it is combined with a highest level of preparation and with a possession of a clear concept for the work performed, the great ensemble is possible. Later in the same year, the musicians made their exceptionally successful Carnegie Hall debut. Living in different states did not defer the women from continuing their meticulous work together for the next two years, during which Bona Fide has produced a few highly popular videos with virtuosic works for cello and piano on YouTube, a CD album and has built considerable following on the East Coast of the U.S. Why was it so incredibly easy to reconnect? In part, this may be due to their similar age and life trajectories? Both left their respective countries, Russia, to continue their education in the U.S. When conversing, they were surprised to find out that they had similar ideas about an American dream. Theirs had nothing to do with the usual list of things obtained, but rather a sense of freedom in building their life so that they would be able to focus on their art and share it with diverse audiences