“I met Marjorie soon after emigration from Russia to the United Stated with my family. We began lessons right away and even though my English was very poor at the time, it never seemed to stand in the way of musical understanding. Marjorie worked with me very patiently, enthusiastically and always passionately. She was always full of wonderful ideas and gave off an energy that was both motivating and inspiring. She had a solution to any predicament I would encounter with the repertoire I studied. Whether it was a technical problem, such as a difficult passage or a question of fingering, or a musical one Marjorie always had an answer and usually more than just one.

We covered a lot of very important repertoire by composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. The pieces assigned to me were always challenging in various ways, which is why my piano playing and musicianship skills never stopped progressing. It was mainly with Marjorie’s help that I was accepted to the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She spent many extra hours working with me in preparation of the audition tape. One of the pieces we worked on together was Beethoven’s concerto no.3 in C-minor for piano and orchestra.

During my first summer at Interlochen, I entered the concerto competition with that piece and was one of the winners. I performed the concerto with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at the beautiful Kresge auditorium. That performance was crucial for me, as it made me realize that I want to have music in my life always. After graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy with a high school diploma as a student of Dr. Stephen Perry, I went on to study at the Juilliard School with the renowned pedagogue Jerome Lowenthal, where I received my BM degree in piano performance.

I have recently graduated from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as a student of professor Edward Auer with a MM degree and am currently a DMA student at the University of Oregon, studying with Alexandre Dossin. I am grateful to Marjorie in many ways, for I studied with her during a critical time period for me. Upon emigration to the US, I found myself in an environment entirely foreign to me, especially music-wise and it was during that time that I thought of leaving music completely. It is entirely thanks to Marjorie’s determination and enthusiasm that I kept playing and up to this day I credit her with my achievements.”