Music surrounded me from my early childhood. My mother is a professional choir conductor, vocal singer, and pianist. Our house was always full of musicians – friends, colleagues, and students. A large grand piano stood in the living room, and I loved to play or sit under it during mother’s rehearsals and lessons.
My first piano lessons started when I was six. At 13 years, I have chosen a professional musical career. Besides playing the piano I was interested in music theory and history, improvisation and composition. When I was just 14 I entered the St.-Petersburg (Russia) Musical College named after Rimsky-Korsakov, which I graduated with honours (BA in Arts) four years later, and was admitted to the St.-Petersburg Conservatory, the eldest in the country. Such musical giants as Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich were its alumni. I received the MA in Arts with honours in 1992, and my thesis dedicated to the piano music of the XX century was published in the professional musical magazine.
While studying at the Conservatory, I started teaching harmony and music theory in the same college, which I had graduated before. 10 years of professional teaching career gave me huge invaluable experience. This is what allows me to teach these disciplines with maximum efficiency.
From 2000 to 2006 I worked at the Montclair University in New Jersey as a choir conductor assistant and accompanist for vocalists and instrumentalists. Those were years of extensive concert practice. I worked at large and small venues, including Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York, NJ PAC, in different cities in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic during choir tours, at ballet and theatrical performances. Some of these stage concerts were recorded on CDs.
Since 2007 I’ve been living in Canada with my family. My daughter Yana was born here in 2012.
Nowadays I completely concentrate on teaching. My overall teaching experience exceeds 35 years because I gave my first lessons under the guidance of my mother when I was only 14. I enjoy teaching as the most creative work throughout my entire career. Many of my students became professional musicians. Now they receive diplomas with honours, teach their students and play concerts in different countries – Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Holland, Finland, Israel, and Russia. This is life that never ends.