Dr. Anikushin has given numerous solo, concerto and chamber music performances at such important venues in New York City as Stern Hall of Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall, Merkin Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall and The Bruno Walter Auditorium of the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center as well as overseas at The Great and Small Halls of The Moscow Conservatory and The Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg in Russia; at Palau de la Musica, Valencia (Spain) as well as in other performance spaces in Israel, Italy, France, Canada, England, Belgium, Japan, Norway and Germany. After Dr. Anikushin’s highly successful New York debut on May 9, 1999 at Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall, the well-known critic Harris Goldsmith of the New York Concert Review wrote: “Maxim Anikushin is undoubtedly destined to enter the annals of his generation’s important young pianists.”

After winning the Concerto Competition in 2006 at Manhattan School of Music, culminating in the performance of Barber’s Piano Concerto, the conductor of the performance, Maestro JoAnn Falletta called Maxim a “big talent” with “fabulous technique.” Mrs. Falletta subsequently invited Mr. Anikushin to perform Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for their 07/08 season. Dr. Anikushin has performed the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 more than any other concerto in his repertoire including the memorable performance in Tours, France in 1999 with Yuri Bashmet and The “Moscow Soloists” orchestra. After Dr. Anikushin’s solo performance at the legendary Stern/Perlman Hall at Carnegie Hall on April 5, 2012, Vivian Schwartz of the New York Times wrote “Judging by his enjoyable concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening, the Russian-American pianist Maxim Anikushin has a genuine affinity for the music of Samuel Barber.”

On Nov. 1 and 3, 2012, Dr. Anikushin for the first time in history, has performed the complete music of Samuel Barber for piano and carillon as well as selected organ music at the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints at Lincoln Center. Dr. Anikushin’s many prestigious prizes and awards include the third prize at both The International Senigallia Competition in Italy and the International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, second Prize in The International Vincenzo Bellini Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy and first prize in both the Long Island’s Five Towns Competition in Hewlett, N.Y. and The International Carlet Competition in Spain.

Dr. Anikushin’s highly praised recording Saison Russe, released on the Bel Air label in 2001, includes Shostakovich Piano Concerto #1, Prokofiev Concerto #3 and Stravinsky’s Petrouchka with Dmitry Yablonsky conducting the Russian State Orchestra. Dr. Anikushin studied with L.A. Andreyeva, Y.I. Batuyev, Milton Salkind, Oxana Yablonskaya and Solomon Mikowsky. He holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School of Music and The Doctorate from Manhattan School of Music. He also studied organ with Chris Johnson and carillon with Casey Klipple and Dionisio Lind at the Riverside church.

Maxim Anikushin is currently teaching the following classes:

Maxim Anikushin, piano

Israeli-born pianist Avner Arad has performed throughout North America and Europe as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Performance highlights have included engagements at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Cologne’s Kölner Philharmonie, Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts, the Kennedy Center, 92nd Street Y, Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, as well as festival appearances at Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein.

Mr. Arad was a recipient of Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debuts Award. He performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations for his New York recital debut as winner of the Koussevitzky Memorial Competition, made his Lincoln Center debut with the Juilliard Orchestra and embarked on his first European tour as winner of the Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition. He twice won the Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.

His critically acclaimed recordings include Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the complete waltzes by Chopin and an all-Schumann CD on MSR Classics, the complete piano works of Janáček on Helicon Records and Bloch’s complete works for violin and piano with Latica Honda-Rosenberg for OehmsClassics.

After receiving the Sharett Scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Mr. Arad worked with Barry Snyder at the Eastman School of Music. He graduated from the Curtis Institute as a pupil of Seymour Lipkin and received his master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with the late Rudolf Firkušný and Emanuel Ax.

Website - AvnerArad.com

Reviews of Avner Arad’s J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations CD

Born to two musicians, Steffani Bennett has had a love of music since birth. She is a passionate teacher, singer and musician based in NYC who loves sharing the incredible training she was fortunate to receive.

As a voice teacher she has a unique background and therefore offers a broad understanding of many genres, which allows her to offer her students a wider variety of music to explore! She began studying piano and dance at age 5 and went on to complete her degree in classical voice and jazz technique at New England Conservatory in Boston. She then moved to New York City and enjoyed a wildly varied career as a pop session singer, writer for TV and teacher. She has performed on countless recordings and over the years developed a reputation as a dependable singer, musician, composer and songwriter. She has coached 2 "American Idol" semi-finalists, and most recently helped a long-time student reach her goal of attending Berklee College of Music. She is a very proud teacher and truly loves to share her love of music with kids of all ages.

Steffani was the Grand Prize Winner of the 1998 USA Songwriting Competition (with her song "I Got A Feeling"), and a runner-up in the 2007 Song of The Year contest with "Worth The Wait." Her debut CD, I’m The Girl was chosen as a "TOP 12 DIY" (self-release) in Performing Songwriter Magazine.

She has sung in Broadway Workshops, and has been a back-up singer for Lesley Gore, Wayne Brady and Kate Pierson of the B52's, to name a few.

As a writer she has composed tracks for NBC, FOX, the World Series, the 2000 Olympics and the MTV Music Awards.

And as a singer/songwriter, Steffani has released 2 records, including her EP Worth The Wait, which was produced by world renowned drummer Nir Z (John Mayer, Jason Mraz). She is also a staff writer for the non-profit organization "Songs of Love," which writes and records personalized songs for terminal and chronically ill children.

Her mission with every student she teaches is to bring out their inner musician, tap into what brings them joy, as well as encourage them to be curious, ask questions, try new things and make mistakes! She works hard to make the process of studying music fun, while giving her students the tools to be independent musicians!

By the time she began studying classical piano in rural Australia at age four, Fiona already showed an emerging ability to improvise and play by ear. Completing the Australian Music Associate Diploma in piano performance in her teens, she turned her attention to popular music by joining the jazz fusion band Nexus. Thus began a lifetime of studying different forms of music in depth, and passing her knowledge on to her students.

Before moving to New York in 1991, Fiona had also completed the Associate Diploma in Jazz Performance at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, and worked for a decade as a jazz musician in Sydney leading her own trio and quartet, as well as performing twice as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. The need to deepen her knowledge lead her to relocate to New York, where she has studied for many years with bebop master Barry Harris, and with Sophia Rosoff, a renowned teacher of the Abbey Whiteside principles. Fiona has written articles for The Piano Stylist (now known as Piano Today), and also wrote a tutorial introducing students to the Barry Harris approach, which is now available on Barry’s website.

As a natural teacher, Fiona has always sought to translate her knowledge into a form useful and enlivening to her students. Her deep knowledge of jazz principles enables her to pass on authentic rhythmic, harmonic and melodic ideas to all levels of students. Her approach to classical study engenders an emotional connection which lifts the music easily off the page, and can give the music a spontaneous feeling, as if improvised. She has also developed a unique way to access students’ innate musicality and listening skills using the ancient Greek modes.

Fiona is excited to be joining the faculty at 92nd Street Y after teaching in her studio in Brooklyn for the past 25 years.

Praised for her “lively, clear textured and urbane” Bach performances and her “impressive clarity of purpose and a full grasp of the music’s spirit” (Allan Kozinn, The New York Times), New York-based pianist, chamber musician, arranger and teacher Eleonor Bindman’s recital appearances have included Carnegie Hall, 92Y, Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Bindman’s solo concerto appearances have included engagements with the National Music Week Orchestra, the Staten Island Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony and The Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, Russia. Ms. Bindman is a prize winner of the New Orleans, F. Busoni and Jose Iturbi international piano competitions and a recipient of a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts award.

Born in Riga, Latvia, Ms. Bindman began studying the piano at the E. Darzins Special Music School at the age of five. Her first piano teacher, Rita Kroner, hailed from the studio of Heinrich Neuhaus, the most venerable Russian piano pedagogue. After Eleonor’s family immigrated to the United States, she attended the High School of Performing Arts while studying piano as a full scholarship student at the Elaine Kaufmann Cultural Center. She received a B.A. in music from NYU and completed her M.A. in piano pedagogy at SUNY, New Paltz under the guidance of Vladimir Feltsman.

Ms. Bindman is a featured artist on two solo recordings, Tchaikovsky: The Seasons on MSR Classics, and her debut recording Three Works by Modest Mussorgsky, which includes her own transcription of A Night on Bald Mountain. She also released Out of the Blue with pianist Susan Sobolewski under the name Duo Vivace, which features two-piano and four-hand arrangements of works by Gustav Holst, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. Ms. Bindman is the author of several piano compositions and transcriptions, including Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain and a set of original piano works for children, An American Calendar, both published by Carl Fischer, Inc.

Ms. Bindman has always been devoted to the music of J.S. Bach and created a new arrangement of the six Brandenburg Concertos for Piano-four-hands. The Brandenburg Duets were completed in 2017 and became a bestselling recording on the Grand Piano label by Naxos Records in 2018. Most recent projects include “Stepping Stones to Bach,” two sets of easy/intermediate piano arrangements of Bach’s non-keyboard works and a transcription of the complete cello suites, due to be released by Naxos records in 2020.

Zelma Bodzin, pianist, has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, chamber musician and collaborative pianist with singers, instrumentalists and choruses, appearing in New York at Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall with the New York Chamber Orchestra and Carnegie Hall. She is a coach, artistic consultant, producer and teacher. Ms. Bodzin has an international reputation as an adjudicator and jury member, from Bulgaria to Ireland, the French Caribbean and New York City. Colleagues have sought out and critics have recognized her "acute ear and intriguing ideas" (New York Times).

A native of New Jersey, Ms. Bodzin began concertizing at the age of five, and went on to study with Eugene List, Dieter Weber, Rosalyn Tureck, Wilhelm Kempff, and Arminda Canteros. She was a member of the Haffner Ensemble in Vienna, Austria. While her reputation as a performer of Bach grew — "those who were there must be deeply grateful", according to The Irish Times review of Ms. Bodzin's performance of the "Goldberg Variations" —she also included 20th century American repertoire. Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" received critical and public acclaim on tour in Texas.

Ms. Bodzin has given master classes in Finland, Bulgaria, Ireland, Malta and Guadeloupe, as well as New York, Texas, Connecticut and Florida, and composers who have worked with her have won commissions in New York and Washington, D.C. She is a member of the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College/CUNY. She initiated the Ensemble Piano course at the Mannes College’s Diploma Program and is on the faculty there. Ms. Bodzin is a member of the faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music, on the Board of the Leschetizky Association and is a Past President of the New York State Music Teachers Association. She has recorded music of Beethoven and Ravel for feature films, including Spike Lee’s Crooklyn.

Pianist Ariela Bohrod received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the Mannes School of Music-The New School on a full-tuition merit scholarship studying with Pavlina Dokovska. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the Steinway Award, Joseph Fidelman Memorial Award, Presser Scholar Award for musical and academic excellence, Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, Marina Bondarenko Memorial Prize at the Tel-Hai Festival in Israel, and the Bianconi Award at the Fontainebleau School in France.

Ms. Bohrod’s playing is described as “smooth and controlled, flowing from one gesture into the next. The word that comes to mind is elegant” (Andrew Tisdel, International Piano Arts Competition). The winner of numerous competitions, she has both solo and chamber music appearances at distinguished venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Stern Auditorium, Museum of Jewish Heritage NYC, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Gilmore International Piano Festival, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Festival. She has been featured on National Public Radio’s From the Top and WQXR New York Public Radio’s Young Artists Showcase, Detroit Public Radio, Interlochen Public Radio, and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Born in Madison, WI, Ms. Bohrod began playing the piano at the age of four. She graduated from high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan as a student of Dr. Thomas Lymenstull and received the 2012-13 Young Artist Award. Since the age of six, she has been giving solo recitals, and had her solo debut with the Madison Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve. Other accomplishments include the 2014 Fischoff National Competition silver prize winner as a member of the Mazel Trio, and third prize at the 2014 Beijing International Music Festival and Academy.

Ms. Bohrod is a member of the faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music, the accompanist for the Brearley School in Manhattan and for the Mannes Prep Pre-College Division. She is also the music director for the stage version of the Lavender Songs accompanying actor/playwright Jeremy Lawrence in New York.

The Croatian pianist Javor Bracic is the first prize winner of international piano competitions in Italy, Croatia and Belgium. At his Carnegie Hall debut recital he was hailed by New York Concert Review for “deep, genuine musicianship and an outstanding technique.” His CD album Tribute to Haydn was released on Labor Records and his performance was broadcast on WQXR. He was invited to perform throughout the USA, Europe, China and South Africa.

In the desire to promote classical music and change the way it is appreciated, Javor started a series of conversation-concerts under the title The Art of Listening. He was praised by the audience for his “contagious enthusiasm” and “unique ability to elucidate imagery both as a performer and teacher.”

Javor holds degrees from the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg and Mannes College in New York. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the City University of New York, studying with Ursula Oppens, Richard Goode and Norman Carey.

Brian Charette is active in all areas of music; production, instruction and performance. As a performer, he is a Hammond endorsed, Steeplechase and Positone recording artist, currently #5 on the Downbeat Critic’s Poll. He constantly performs worldwide with his own groups and artists such as Joni Mitchell, Chaka Kahn, and George Coleman. As an educator, Charette writes prolifically for Keyboard Magazine, Jazz Times, The NYC Jazz Record and the Czech music magazine, Muzikus. He has a successful book out on Hal Leonard Publications and two instructional videos on mymusicmasterclass.com.

Brian is also very well versed in production and engineering, releasing groundbreaking albums that combine acoustic and electronic elements such as sampling and analog keyboards. He has also earned a Grammy Nomination for his mixing on Robert Smigel’s debut album for Warner Brothers records. briancharette.com/about/.

Brian Charette is currently teaching the following classes:

Group Keyboard (Beginner)

Jiuan-Jiuan Chiou, a native of Taiwan, is a pianist as well as piano instructor. She has long been devoted to piano pedagogy and musical learning in addition to having performed throughout Asia and the United States. She is a co-founder of the Aquarius Duo, which has given recent performances for audiences in New York City, performing the works of Brahms and Debussy among others. Ms. Chiou has been teaching for ten years and has worked with a broad range of age groups, from preschoolers to adults. Her students compete in nationally renowned competitions and have gone on to give solo performances at venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Merkin Concert Hall, Steinway Hall, Goethe House German Cultural Center and the DiCapo Opera Theater in New York. For her contributions to music education, Ms. Chiou was honored with the Norman Stanley Smith Award for Outstanding Achievement in Piano Pedagogy. She is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and a certified Dalcroze teacher. Her forthcoming book, A Route to Learning Sol-Fa Syllables, explores alternative methods of learning musical notation.

Simona Frenkel established herself as a versatile international performer.

She is a winner of numerous international competitions, including Concertino Prague, Czech Republic and Mykola Lysenko International competition, Kiev, Ukraine. She was named Merited (Performing) Artist of Ukraine, one of the most prestigious musical awards in Ukraine.

Simona Frenkel began her solo career at the age of eight with her solo debut at the Hall of Columns of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. Since then Ms. Frenkel is frequently heard in recitals in the United States and Europe. She is in demand as a chamber musician and soloist in New York City, performing most recently at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University, The Riverside Church in the City of New York. She has made numerous television appearances and radio recordings.

Ms. Frenkel is a founder and artistic director of the Concertino NY chamber ensemble. Founded in New York City in 2011, Concertino NY showcases some of the finest young professional musicians in the greater New York area. The ensemble specializes in the juxtaposition between old and new: an early music and contemporary classical repertoire. The group’s performance practice reflects the spirit and style of the period in which the music was composed.

A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Ms. Frenkel holds a MM degree in performance from the Juilliard School of Music, Tallinn and Kiev Conservatories, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the Kiev Conservatory. Her principal teachers have been John Weaver, Hugo Lepnurm and Igor Riabov. While at Kiev Conservatory she received valuable impulses through coaching with renowned Russian pianists Michail Voskresensky, Alexander Jocheles, Vladimir Nielsen.

Simona Frenkel was on the faculty at the Kiev Conservatory.

Currently, she is on the faculty at the NYU/HUC-JIR the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music and 92Y School of Music.

Canadian-American pianist Helen Kashap has been heard as a soloist with several major North American Orchestras. Described as, “Hands-down the most dynamic and exciting young pianist I’ve yet witnessed” (Canadian conductor Victor Sawa, Saskatoon Star Phoenix), Kashap is a two-time recipient of the major Canada Council for the Arts Professional Development Grant, an award given each year to a handful of Canada’s most promising artists. Kashap has performed extensively throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe and has been supported in her recordings projects by FACTOR Canada, Canada’s main recording foundation.

Making her debut in 2010 with the Saskatoon Symphony, Kashap performed Grieg’s Piano concerto in A minor to great acclaim: “Kashap is a gorgeously expressive performer… the audience leapt to their feet at the end with applause and offered Kashap an encore, a rare occurrence here.” (Saskatoon Star Phoenix) Two weeks later, Kashap was heard in concert with the Regina Symphony orchestra in a performance of Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto. Another success, “Kashap, an accomplished 23-year old Canadian pianist delivered an impressive performance of this challenging concerto, expressively eliciting the many musical ideas present in Liszt’s work from the piano.” (Regina Leader Post)

A recipient of several major awards and scholarships, Kashap has been named a prestigious Chalmer’s Fellow by the Ontario Arts Council and a Schulich Scholar (McGill University’s top Music/Academic award), and has gleaned research and study fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Williamson Foundation for Music, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. Additionally, Kashap has been awarded top prizes at the Canadian Music Competition, The Kinsmen Competition, The National Knigge Competition (Vancouver), The North Bay Symphony Competition (Grand Prize Winner), The Saskatchewan Concerto Competition, the Saskatchewan Provincial Music Festival, the MidWest USA Piano Competition (Grand Prize Winner), and the Interlochen Concerto Competition.

An avid teacher and performer, Kashap has previously been a musician in residence at the Banff Center for the Arts, and has participated in festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Center for the Arts Piano Masterclass program, Toronto Summer Music Institute, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy), Music at Chateau d'Aix (France), Gijon Piano Festival (Spain), and the Interlochen Arts Camp. Throughout her studies, she has had the privilege of working with some of today’s most revered pianists and pedagogues including Menahem Pressler, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Marc Durand, Paul Roberts, Choi Hie-yon, Inna Faliks, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, James Giles, and Sara Laimon.

Kashap has been teaching extensively for the last ten years, including at conservatories and pre-professional institutions for musicians across Canada and the United States. She has experience teaching all ages and levels and musicianship, and finds joy in the challenge of tailoring lessons to each individual need and placement.

Kashap holds a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a recipient of the Cleveland Musical Arts Society Scholarship and a student of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at McGill University in Montreal, QC under the tutelage of professor Sara Laimon and her High School Diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy where she graduated with High honors and a specialization in Piano Performance.

Anna Khanina started her musical education at the age of five, and in 1996 she graduated with honors from the famous Gnessin School of Music in Moscow for gifted children, where she studied with Lidia Grigorjeva. Upon her graduation, she immigrated to Germany, where she began studies with Professor Bernd Goetzke (former student of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. In 1999 she graduated from the Hochschule für Musik Magna cum Laude. In 2001 she earned a Master’s degree from the same institution, and subsequently went on to pursue an Artist Diploma in the Soloist-Class in 2001. At the same time, while pursuing her studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Anna simultaneously pursued a second Master’s degree in Performance at the Gnessin Academy of Music, where she again graduated with honors in 2004.

In 2007 she completed a Piano Performance Diploma at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she studied as a full-scholarship student of Solomon Mikowsky. Upon her graduation in 2007, Ms. Khanina was accepted into the Doctoral of Musical Arts Program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as a full-scholarship student studying with Gilbert Kalish.

Ms. Khanina enjoys a successful performing career. She regularly appears as a soloist and with chamber ensembles in Europe, United States, Canada and Israel. She has performed at such venues as 92 Y Kaufman Hall, Symphony Space, Staller Center for Arts, Trinity Church, Yamaha Piano Salon in New York, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Pianoforte Chicago, Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University, Georg Phillip Telemann Hall in Magdeburg, Muendener Schloss, Klavierhaus Doell and Kanapee in Hannover, Germany.

Anna Khanina is currently teaching the following classes:

Group Piano (Continuing) / Ages 5-7

Group Piano / Ages 5-6

Group Piano / Ages 7-8

Described as “elegant” by The New York Times, pianist Arielle Levioff has appeared as a soloist in some of New York City’s most prestigious venues including Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall. She has also performed in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., throughout the Southeastern United States and internationally in London, France and Italy. Her concerto engagements include the Rapides Symphony (LA), the Lower Merion Symphony (PA), the Astoria Symphony (NY), the Christ Church Festival Orchestra in Oyster Bay (NY) and the Seniors Orchestral Society of New York. Ms. Levioff was a finalist in the 2009 Sorel Medallion Competition in Collaborative Piano, resulting in an invitation to join the faculty of the 2010 Daniel Ferro Vocal Festival in Tuscany.

Ms. Levioff earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and attended prestigious summer festivals including the Tanglewood Institute and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. She has served on the piano and chamber music faculty of the 92nd Street Y School of Music since 2005, and also teaches piano and The Art of Listening to Music for the Himan Brown senior program at 92nd Street Y. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Levioff has enjoyed collaborations with the Ridotto Ensemble, The Phoenix Ensemble, The Westerlund Trio and musicians from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She is also Music Director of the Point Counterpoint Adult Chamber Music Workshop in Brandon, Vermont.

Luke Marantz is a New York City based pianist and composer from Texas. Born to a musical family, his studies began at an early age with piano, voice, saxophone and visual art. A graduate of the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Marantz was awarded multiple national jazz awards during his time there including seventeen Downbeat SMA awards which led to him being featured in the publication three times.

His studies were continued at the New England Conservatory of Music from which he graduated in 2013. During his time there Marantz had the opportunity to work with, among others, Fred Hersch, Jason Moran and Veronica Jochum.

During his young career, Luke has performed with the likes of Jeff “Tain” Watts, Dave Liebman, George Garzone, Tierney Sutton, Ingrid Jensen, Antonio Hart and many others. He has been featured as a sideman on the recordings of trumpeters Jason Palmer and Billy Buss as well as saxophonists Matt Marantz and Gianni Gagliardi alongside musicians such as Dayna Stephens, Gilad Hekselman and Walter Smith III. He has also co-led multiple recordings including joint projects with his brother, Matt Marantz, and their band “The Primary Colors”. His debut solo piano record is scheduled for release in the summer of 2017.

Marantz has performed across the country and internationally at such venues as the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, New England’s Jordan hall, the Panama Jazz Festival, the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz Festival, the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference and the Boston Jazz Week Festival.

For more info visit www.lukemarantz.com.

Luke Marantz is currently teaching the following classes:

Group Piano / Ages 5-6

Group Piano / Ages 7-8

Group Keyboard (Beginner)

Group Keyboard (Intermediate)

Group Piano (Beginner) / Teens

Group Piano / Ages 7-9

New York based-, Colombian born Hector Martignon has composed, orchestrated, produced, performed and recorded music in a wide spectrum of genres, from classical and crossover, to jazz and world music, to rock and pop. His five albums as a leader and two as co-leader (Mozart's Blue Fantasies and Bach's Secret Files) as well as his work on over a hundred albums, scores for five feature films, three Broadway Musicals and multiple other projects, showcase his wide-ranging area of expertise.

After several nominations as a sideman, two of his five solo CDs (Refugee, 2008, and Second Chance, 2010) were nominated for a GRAMMY Award. He arranged and performed parts of the score of Ang Lee's OSCAR-nominated movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

His first professional recording was at age 18 (Mikis Theodorakis's Canto General) while one of the most recent was on legendary rock band Chicago's latest production, the Latin-tinged Exitos.

He has written symphonic orchestrations, performed and recorded by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and compositions like the one commissioned and premiered by the Musica de Camara String Orchestra at St. Patrick's Cathedral in April 2011.

As a requested sideman he has toured the world with such greats as Paquito D'Rivera, Ray Barretto, Gato Barbieri, Steve Turre, Don Byron, Tito Puente and, closer to home, he was featured pianist with Max Roach's "Project America" at 92 St Y.

His joy of teaching has made him a requested guest-lecturer and performance teacher in music faculties and academies in several countries of Europe, North- and South America. Hector wrote an instructional book on Latin piano commissioned and published by Hal Leonard.

John McCauley joined the 92Y School of Music faculty in 1997. He teaches beginner and advanced students from age 5 to 95. His traditional approach allows the student to experience the drama and sound of the piano and its pedals immediately, and to play all over the keyboard. McCauley received fellowships to Aspen and Tanglewood and a graduate fellowship at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a Master's Degree in piano, and studied orchestral conducting with Jean Morel and Jorge Mester. As a student at the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, he participated in Orchestral conducting Master Classes led by Herbert von Karajan. John performed throughout the U.S. for Columbia Artists Management, in Europe and on nearly every major stage in New York City, including recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall. John conducts the COSM Chamber Orchestra, and led the Bronx Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Opera Theater, Opera Northwest, Opera Iowa and the Nevada Opera Studio.

Katherine is an active solo performer as well as chamber musician based in New York City. She has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious halls including the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as well as Boston’s Jordan Hall. Katherine has won numerous honors including NEC’s Piano Honors Competition, a prize in the American Protégé competition as well as many scholarships.

Katherine is a frequent performer of new music and music written by women and minorities. She believes that music is the most essential form of human communication and works to create a more inclusive concert experience. She believes this can best be achieved by creating a more diverse and innovative concert program. To further this goal, Katherine was awarded a grant in 2016 to create the Boston Women’s Music Project and is currently working to premiere a feminist songbook, The Well-Tempered Woman, with composer Stefania de Kenessey and Soprano Eugenia Dante.

As a teacher, Katherine’s goal is to equip her students with the ability and desire to make music throughout their life. She has worked with students of all ages, ranging from 3-60+. Katherine has been teaching for around 5 years. She emphasizes the importance of performance with her students and has prepared many of her students to participate in recitals throughout the city. Katherine’s prepares her students to feel confident expressing themselves musically and sharing their music with audiences of all sizes.

Katherine wants all of her students to experience the joy of expressing themselves through music. Every student finds a different aspect of music to be most fulfilling or exciting, and she encourages her students to find and follow their interests through our lessons. For each of Katherine’s students, she determines which aspects of music performance are meaningful to them and helps them achieve this at the piano. In addition, she strives to expose them to other aspects that she finds exciting and meaningful, broadening their experiences in music. Katherine encourages her students to take an active role in selecting what they want to work on and guides them to take an active role in their learning. Katherine always makes sure her students feel supported and encouraged and that she wants them to do the best that they can do. She believes this supportive atmosphere is crucial to the learning process so that students are comfortable taking risks and growing in their music making.

Katherine earned her Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory where she studied with Bruce Brubaker and her Master of Music degree from Mannes School of Music where she studied with Thomas Sauer. Other major teachers have included Arkady Aronov and Dina Khudayberdieva.

Pianist Zach Mo has had a wide-ranging variety of performing and teaching experiences around the globe. His performance engagements have taken him to Europe, Asia, as well as the United States, as a solo recitalist, a chamber musician, a choral accompanist and an orchestral pianist. An avid collaborator, Zach regularly performs with all types of musicians and ensembles including singers, choirs and instrumentalists. He is also the pianist and co-founder of the Caspian Piano Trio.

As a teacher, Zach Mo has instructed students of all ages and skill levels, from pupils of age three becoming newly acquainted with music to advanced pianists preparing for auditions and competitions. He has been invited to China as a guest instructor at the Piano Arts School in his home province of Hunan, teaching students and presenting recitals in the Yueyang city's new and only music school. Zach has been teaching over 10 years and considers education the greatest gift a person can give. He helps students discover and decode the magic and mystery in music while approaching it logically by developing solid practice habits, theoretical understanding and musical creativity.

Mr. Mo received his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2008 under the tutelage of Daniel Epstein. He has also studied at Northwestern University, the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he the recipient of the Lucille Kimball Scholarship. Furthermore, he has had the privilege of participating in master classes with such great pianists as Yefim Bronfman, Murray Perahia and Barry Snyder.

Born in Istanbul, residing in Brooklyn, Derin Öge brings a worldly and eclectic view to the music that she plays. With a classical and contemporary training, she is at home on the concert stage and in the club. Ms. Öge was trained at Mimar Sinan University, and holds a masters degree from Purchase Conservatory under the tutelage of Paul Ostrovsky, where she later served on piano faculty. She has played extensively with Piano Music Trio, a chamber ensemble that performs arrangements of Impressionist and Romantic songs for trumpet, piano and cello. Derin Öge is also a founding member of Occasional Noise Trio with William Lang, trombone and Cesare Papetti, percussion.

Ms. Öge has played internationally and locally at such venues as Cornelia Street Café, Mozarteum University, Peter de Grote Festival, The Stone, Flushing Town Hall, Barbes, the Roerich Museum and Symphony Space, among others. In addition, her performance of Mozart’s Sonata in B flat Major has been recorded for the European Broadcast Union.

Derin Öge’s recent recordings are distributed by System Dialing Records.

Derin’s performance career is coupled with her active and passionate work in teaching. She currently leads our terrifically popular Music FUNdamentals class for 4-year-olds, and two classes for kids ages 5-7: our group keyboard class, and a brand new rhythm-themed Saturday class, Rhythm is Gonna Get'cha! Derin is an expert in the areas of piano, movement and theory, and she is personally dedicated to the development of every young music maker.

Derin Oge is currently teaching the following classes:

Music FUNdamentals / Ages 3-4

Group Piano (Continuing) / Ages 5-7

Group Piano / Ages 5-6

Group Piano / Ages 7-8

Mark Pakman, M.M., Moscow State Conservatory; Certificate, International Institute for Chamber Music, Munich. Studies with Vladimir Natanson, Maria Grinberg, Nina Svetlanova. Masterclasses: Demus, Badura-Skoda, Jansen. Performances at major New York concert halls and on radio stations WQXR, WNCN, WNYC. Tours: North America, Russia. Russian vocal coach for Samuel Ramey and Beverly Morgan and a Board member of the Leschetizky Association. Adjudicator: Juilliard Precollege, DMA recitals at MSM. Program notes: Russian Disc, Consonance. Faculty: Manhattan School of Music (Associate with N. Svetlanova) and Precollege, Montclair State University (Assistant Professor), Amati Festival and 92nd Street Y.

Alexandra Pitocchi, an active pianist and teacher, was born in Massapequa, NY. Starting at a young age, she developed a deep love for classical music and found the piano to be a great source of solace and self-expression. As an educator, Alexandra believes in the importance of fostering intrinsic motivation and giving each student the tools to become independent and confident musicians.

Alexandra began teaching piano during her undergraduate studies at the Crane School of Music, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance with a concentration Pedagogy. Here, she was able to gain extensive experience working closely with students of various ages and levels, allowing her to become familiar with a wide of array of repertoire and method books. While at Crane, Alexandra studied solo piano with Dr. Paul Wyse and piano pedagogy with Dr. Kathryn Sherman.

Alexandra also holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, where she graduated with distinction. As a graduate assistant, she taught private piano lessons at Westminster Conservatory as well as group piano classes. During her time at Westminster Choir College, Alexandra completed internships under the guidance of Phyllis Lehrer and Betty Stoloff, focusing mainly on teaching in a group setting. She has also performed in master classes with prestigious pianists such as Lori Sims and Thomas Otten.

In addition to an extensive teaching career, Alexandra is an active soloist and collaborator and works regularly with vocalists. She has performed at multiple venues, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Snell Theater (Potsdam, NY), Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall (Potsdam, NY) and Williamson Hall (Princeton, NJ).

Pianist Luba Poliak made her professional debut at the age of eleven with the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, she has appeared on four continents as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Luba has performed recitals in prestigious venues and series including 92nd Street Y in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Dudley Hall in Houston and the Embassy Series in Washington, D.C. Her performances have been broadcast worldwide, on stations including Chicago’s WFMT, ABC Classical FM in Australia and Kol Hamusica, the national classical music station in Israel.

As a chamber musician, Luba has performed with acclaimed musicians from the Metropolitan Orchestra, New York City Opera and A Far Cry. Festival appearances include Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Long Island Chamber Music Society, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players and the Houston Piano Institute.

Luba began her studies at the age of six in Novosibirsk, Russia. After immigrating to Israel, she continued her studies and graduated magna cum laude from the Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv under the tutelage of Michael Boguslavsky. After additional studies at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles and the Verbier Academy, she received her Masters Degree with Honors from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Patricia Zander and Gabriel Chodos. Luba then earned her Doctorate at Stony Brook University with Gilbert Kalish. She currently resides in New York City, where she teaches at 92nd Street Y and the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Dina Pruzhansky is a NYC based award-winning composer, pianist, and educator. Ms. Pruzhansky holds a postgraduate degree from the Mannes College The New School for Music in collaborative piano, where she was awarded a continuous scholarship of merit. Her MA in solo piano performance, summa cum laude, is from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where she studied with the pupil of H. Neuhaus, Prof. Victor Derevianko. She also holds a Bachelor degree in Art History. Born in the former USSR and Israeli-raised, Ms. Pruzhansky enjoys a diverse international career in a variety of genres, ranging from classical to musical theater and from liturgy to cabaret. Her compositions have been featured in many of New York's renowned music venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, The Bargemusic, Le Poisson Rouge, Symphony Space, YIVO, Opera America Center, and others. Her music has been broadcast on media including WQXR in an exclusive ‘Young Artist’ program with the renowned host Robert Sherman. Following the successful premiere of her Hebrew opera SHULAMIT in 2014, an additional production was enabled by popular demand in 2016. The opera was also presented in part at the Aspen Music Festival 2019. An alumna of the BMI Advanced Musical Theater Workshop, Ms.Pruzhansky was nominated for the 2009 Fred Ebb Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre writing, and was selected as finalist for 2019 NY Musical Theater festival with her musical for children Central Park. She has served as liturgical composer-in-residence at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester and at Temple Shalom, Dallas. A passionate educator, Ms. Pruzhansky is the author of I Can Play Chopin series—a collection of easy piano arrangements for beginners. Ms. Pruzhansky’s Carnegie Hall mainstage (Stern Auditorium) debut will take place on March 3, 2020, with the premiere of her suite for piano, strings, and percussion.

Magdalene Rolka was born in Chicago and started playing piano at the age of three. She started performing when she was five years old and played her first full recital at age ten. She spent her childhood immersed in music, performing around Chicago at beautiful performance venues such as Chicago's Orchestra Hall, The Chicago Cultural Center, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she played for Mayor Daley. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Miami. Upon graduating, Magdalene joined the faculty of the University of Miami Piano Preparatory Program where, in addition to private piano lessons, she taught classes of Group Piano, Music Theory, and Aural Skills for four years. Magdalene received her Master of Arts degree in Music/Music Education from Columbia University Teachers College, where she had the rare privilege to study with and perform for esteemed philosopher, Maxine Greene. Magdalene currently teaches students ages 4 through 96. When she has free time, she writes and records her own music.

Steve Sandberg is an Emmy-nominated Composer, Pianist and Teaching Artist who specializes in creative piano (and composition, theory, improvisation) lessons for children and adults of all ages. He shares his passion for and broad knowledge of music in a gentle and approachable way, and tailors his teaching to the individual needs of each student. He has given classical recitals, toured internationally with well-known Latin, jazz and rock artists, and written extensively for TV and other media. He enjoys sharing the benefits of music with young people and adults alike!

He began classical piano studies at age 4 and won a BMI composers award before attending Yale University, where he majored in musical theory and composition. At Yale, his studies with noted African art theorist Robert Farris Thompson inspired him to immerse himself in the world of Afro-Caribbean music. Upon returning to NYC he played with, arranged and composed for some of the great salsa artists of the 1970s and 1980s, including Celia Cruz, Ruben Blades and Tito Puente. A highlight of this period was an appearance in Rio and São Paolo opening for the legendary João Gilberto in a duo with vocalist Bebel Gilberto. He also toured with David Byrne as keyboardist and vocalist.

Steve has conducted and arranged on Broadway and for many regional and Off-Broadway theaters, including the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Most recently, he was nominated for three Emmy Awards for his work as Musical Director and Composer for Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!

Melissa Shiflett's degrees are in music composition and piano and were received from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where she studied with Grace Welsh, Helen Watson, William Ferris and Abraham Stokman. She has taught piano at the 92nd Street Y since 1988. Ms. Shiflett's newest opera, My Undying Love: An Amusement was given a workshop production by The American Chamber Opera Company in January of 2008 at The Construction Company in New York City, and was presented again in April, 2008 by New York Opera Projects. Her operas have been performed by the Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Minnesota Opera New Music Theatre Ensemble, New Dramatists in New York City, Piccolo Productions in Chicago and in 2002, Ms. Shiflett's opera Dora, composed to a libretto by Nancy Fales Garrett, was produced by La MaMa, E.T.C. in association with The American Chamber Opera Company in New York City. Excerpts from Dora were presented by the New York City Opera in their first annual Showcasing American Composers series in 1999. Her theater songs have been performed both nationally and internationally in the plays Dracula, and Tales of the Lost Formicans. Her Songs on Sara Teasdale Poems and Water Dreams were premiered at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and can be heard on Albany Records. Ms. Shiflett has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the Margaret Jory Copying Assistance Program of the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and a Diverse Forms Artist Grant (funded by the NEA, Rockefeller Foundation and Jerome Foundation) to complete the orchestration of her opera Dora. More about Ms. Shiflett can be found at her websites: www.dora-the-opera.com and mysite.verizon.net/yik/.

Ruth Albert Spencer is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music. Her major teachers include Frank Sheridan, Carl Schacter and Leopold Mannes. She did her graduate work at Queens College (CUNY). Prof. Spencer is on the Music Dept. faculties of the City Univ. of New York and the 92nd Street Y. She is a recipient of a NY Council on the Humanities Grant, enabling her to give lectures on the relationship of Chopin and George Sand and to perform his music. Prof. Spencer has authored two books on Music Education and many articles, including one in Clavier on the Chopin Preludes. Ruth is proud to have been a volunteer at Ground Zero for 9 months, and during that time she gave two solo piano recitals for rescue workers at St. Paul's Chapel.

Pianist Tania Tachkova has been praised by critics for performances that are “white-hot” and “very impressive.” She has appeared as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and in Europe at prestigious venues such as the Wiener Saal at Mozarteum (Austria), Centro de Bellas Artes and Museo del Arte (Puerto Rico), Harris Hall (Aspen), Sarasota Opera House (Sarasota), the National Palace of Culture and the Great Bulgaria Hall (Bulgaria). She has been featured as a soloist with the Orchestra of the State Academy of Music (Sofia), Shoumen Philharmonic, Razgrad Philharmonic and with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the 2006 Concerto Competition. Her performances have been broadcast on radio and television, including WQXR, WITF and Bulgarian National Television. In 2010 she released the critically acclaimed CD Song to My Love with bassoonist Maria Wildhaber on MSR Records; a recording characterized in the press as “a fantastic release” and “highly recommended.” Their second CD, Eastern Discoveries, was released in the summer of 2014, also on MSR Records, and includes rarely recorded works for bassoon and piano by Eastern European composers. Ms. Tachkova earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University. Currently, she is on the piano faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music in New York City. Ms. Tachkova is a Steinway artist.

The young American pianist, Reed Tetzloff, is one of the brightest stars of a new generation of musicians. He enthralls audiences with his “magical tone” (The Cincinnati Enquirer) and “ebullient” virtuosity (Gramophone Magazine). He made his New York debut in 2012 at Alice Tully Hall, and has performed as a recitalist and concerto soloist in major halls throughout the United States, Europe and China. These include Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and several venues in Belgium, such as De Singel (Antwerp), Flagey (Brussels) and the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth (Waterloo).

At the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015, his career was given an important boost after he was named one of twelve semi-finalists. His performances were acclaimed in Russian media, which called him “the lyric hero of the competition,” and noted by music lovers worldwide. He has won prizes from several other major international competitions. At Mannes College the New School for Music, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the studio of Piano Department Chair Pavlina Dokovska, he won the two largest awards available to pianists: the Concerto Competition (as a freshman) and the Nadia Reisenberg Competition (as a sophomore). He studied at Mannes on a full scholarship as recipient of the Nahum Guzik Piano Award. In 2017, he released his debut solo album, Sounds of Transcendence. It features music of Griffes, Scriabin and Franck, and is available on the Romeo Records label.

He is also an experienced and committed instructor. He currently teaches piano as part of the Intersection Arts program at The Greenwich Village School and as a faculty member at the Bronx Conservatory of Music, in addition to maintaining a private studio. He was the guest artist-faculty at the University of Northwestern (St. Paul, MN) Summer Piano Institute in 2017.

Alison Thomas has been a member of the 92nd Street Y School of Music faculty since 1998, teaching private piano lessons. She earned her MM at Manhattan School of Music and her PhD in piano performance at New York University. She has appeared as soloist with the Stephens Symphony, New Orleans Civic Symphony, Ecoutez! Chamber Orchestra, and the West End Winds. She has been invited for repeat performances on the Ateliers Concerts series in Paris and Music at Midday in New Orleans, as well as the Leschetizky Association's Tenri Concert Series and the 92 Street Y's Meet the Virtuoso series. Ms. Thomas also maintains a private teaching studio, runs her own publishing firm, the Hudson River Press, and composes and writes about music.

Antonio Truyols is an educator, composer and performer with a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Studies from UNC Greensboro and Master's Degree in Film Composition from NYU. In addition to teaching at 92Y, he is currently a Lead Teacher at the Harmony Program, an El-Sistema inspired non-profit organization. He served as Faculty at the Music Academy of North Carolina where he specialized in improvised music and led youth ensembles. As the Music Director for the Prebyterian Church of the Covenant, Truyols has led bell choirs, adult choirs and children's choirs in performances across the east coast.

As a performing pianist, Truyols has made appearances at the French Embassy in Washington D.C., Palace Hall in Bucharest, Romania and multiple tours in Mainland China where he also presents Master classes. He was a finalist in the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition and leads an award-winning jazz piano trio Unit Three. As a composer, he has garnered awards from the American Viola Society and the Downbeat Awards and writes music for short films. You can read more about Antonio Truyols at TruyolsMusic.com.

Antonio Truyols is currently teaching the following classes:

Keyboard Crash Course / Beginner

Keyboard Crash Course / Intermediate

Jazz Piano for the Classical Pianist

Group Keyboard (Beginner)

Peter Yarin is a NYC-based pianist, whose unique approach to teaching, writing and performing, bridges classical, contemporary and jazz styles. Featured on the Grammy-winning recording Music from Boardwalk Empire, Vol. 1 with 1920s vintage jazz orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Peter has performed stride and jazz piano at such venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, "Late Night with Conan O’Brien," "A Prairie Home Companion" and the Newport Jazz Festival. He has worked with and accompanied such artists as Garrison Keillor, Michael Feinstein and Leon Redbone. In addition to "Boardwalk Empire," you can hear him on the soundtracks of "The Knick" and Amazon's "Z"; as well as the films Carol, Bessie and Mildred Pierce. An accomplished composer, Peter Yarin is currently developing several projects for musical theater; recent work has been seen at Tokyo’s New National Theatre. He has been published in the BMI Musical Theatre Songbook and Directory of Musical Theatre Writers.