Since its founding in 1995 by Nelly and Elena Berman, the NBS Classical Music Institute (NBSCMI) has helped thousands of musically gifted students achieve their musical potential through its 501(c)(3) scholarship fund.
This year marks the first time the scholarship auditions were ever held virtually. This spring, we are honored to announce that Ian Hobson, winner of the 1981 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (one of the top piano competitions in the world, whose winners include Murray Perahia and whose finalists include Mistuko Uchida and Andras Schiff) and faculty member at Florida State University, is one of our distinguished judges for the Nelly Berman School of Music’s spring scholarship auditions.
Besides being a great pianist, recording artist, pedagogue, and judge, Ian also has the honor of being the brother-in-law of Elena’s friend and NBSCMI board member Dominique Reiff, and is the father of NPR talk show host Jeremy Hobson. We are eternally grateful to Dominique for inviting Ian Hobson to be our judge, and to her, her husband Jeffrey, and her mother-in-law Phyllis for their heartfelt support of the school and its 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarship fund.
As in the past, student auditions were judged as well by Elena Berman and NBSCMI board members Paul Matuch, Lauren Hirsch, and Alex Botwinik.
Congratulations to the following piano scholarship students (listed alphabetically) for this opportunity to be heard by and receive comments from Ian Hobson:
- Alyssa Gabrilovich, student of Dr. Igor Resnianski
- Nathan Jiang, student of Dr. Igor Resnianski
- Anastasia Kudin, student of Dr. Igor Resnianski
- Kelly Lao, student of Elena Berman & Dima Borisovsky
- Emma Lo, student of Dr. Igor Resnianski
- Evan Lu, student of Dr. Marianna Prjevalskaya
- Isabelle Matuch, student of Dr. Anna Kislitsyna
- Sasha Murray, student of Dr. Marianna Prjevalskaya & Ronaldo Rolim
- Andy Wu, student of Dr. Igor Resnianski
- Bridget Xu, student of Dr. Ariane Alexander
- Andrew Yu, student of Dr. Anna Kislitsyna
- George Zhang, student of Elena Berman
- Ryan Zhang, student of Olga Mogilevsky & Dr. Marianna Prjevalskaya
- Michael Zhou, student of Dr. Anna Kislitsyna
The mission of the Nelly Berman School’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarship fund, the NBS Classical Music Institute is to provide a life-changing, high-quality music education to talented children with financial limitations. Scholarship students audition on a biannual basis, compete in international, national, and local music competitions, and perform and school events. This program would not exist without the support of our school’s families and alumni. Please consider supporting us in our mission of providing a serious music education to the children of our community by spreading the word about our scholarship program and making a tax-deductible donation.
Thank you again to the Reiff family for giving this opportunity to our students and for their continued support!
