With one of my favorite students who just performed at Carnegie Hall…
It all started when…
I began studying piano at the age of six in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. At the age of ten, I had my first solo piano recital, going on to earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance at the Turkmen State Music College by the age of 18.
I continued my music studies as a pianist and music educator first at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory and later at the Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, where I received my Master’s Degree in Music Education.
I worked extensively throughout Russia as a concert pianist, opera and ballet accompanist, and piano instructor. When not performing, I taught piano at various music schools in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, while also working as a choir accompanist and a vocal coach.
Since immigrating to the United States in 2008 I’ve taught throughout the county, starting at the New Mexico School of Music as a full-time piano instructor. Working so many hours as an instructor while actively performing as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout the United State and abroad, including performances like the International Music Festival in Morelia and Zamora, Mexico in recital with world renowned violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, was a very difficult schedule to maintain. At the same time, my students were also performing at the Golden Key Festival at Carnegie Hall and in Vienna, Austria. My schedule became increasingly busy as I added tango music to my repertoire.
I am one of the founding members of QTango, now one of America's premier tango orchestras, where I continue to perform in numerous festivals and theater productions throughout the United States, Japan, Canada and Europe. I studied tango music under Pablo Ziegler and many other great artists. We came to love this music so much we decided to produce the world’s largest live tango music festival every March in Albuquerque, New Mexico with over fifty musicians joining us to play for hundreds of dancers for 4 days of non-stop music.
Somehow I also made time to play orchestral works as a soloist like the Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto in G minor with the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque and even did solo recitals in Europe like the Lindlar Klavier Festival and Vienna. I also worked as an accompanist for Opera Southwest, in productions of “ Tosca’, “Die Fledermaus”, “Le Conferential’, “Lucia di Lammermoor’, “Carmen," among others, and was the staff accompanist for Teatro Nuevo Mexico and the UNM Opera and instrumental studios for several seasons.
Are you tired just reading about all this performing and teaching? I don’t remember sleeping much all those years, but somehow I also learned English and in 2013, I also completed a second Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at the University of New Mexico where I studied with Professor Falko Steinbach. During my studies there I became interested in playing organ and have since become the organist and accompanist at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Albuquerque.
In the last year, I’ve tried to slow down a little. So I am trying to be more selective in the students I teach and the concert work I do. I enjoy doing outreach and playing for organizations like the Albuquerque Sister Cities Foundation where I performed in Sasebo, Japan as a representative of the city I now call home.
