We are very excited to announce our judges and present our participants for our Fall 2020 Music Technique Skills-Building (MTSB) Scales and Studies Competition!
The Nelly Berman School is proud to be one of the few community music schools in the United States to have a unique program like this in our curriculum and program offerings. We hope that this program continues to become a vital educational experience for the NBS students. All of our Russian-trained teachers have themselves gone through the rigorous training of having biannual juries with studies, scales, arpeggios, and more, and our students will now carry on the traditions of this special training!
Our judges for the Fall 2020 MTSB Scales and Studies Competition include Dr. Igor Resnianski (piano), Dr. Marianna Prjevalskaya (piano), Irina Rostomashvili (strings), and Dr. Meghan Woodard (woodwinds).
Dr. Igor Resnianski is a Steinway artist and prizewinner of many national and international competitions, including the New Orleans International Competition and International World Piano Competition. He is a professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, Cliburn Piano Institute in Fort Worth, the New Orleans Piano Institute, and the University of Houston Piano Institute. He serves as a jury member in many local, state, national and international piano competitions and festivals, including the New Orleans International Piano Competition, Philadelphia Orchestra Albert M. Greenfield Concerto Competition, Texas-Fort Worth Symphony Concerto Competition, and many more.
Dr. Marianna Prjevalskaya has won top prizes at over 20 competitions, including: the 2014 New Orleans International Piano Competition, the 2013 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, the 2013 European Piano Competition, and the 2007 Paderewski International Piano Competition, among many others. Marianna has performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Teatro Goldoni of Florence, and Weill Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, among others. Her debut at Carnegie Hall was praised by musical critic Frank Daykin as “one of the major piano recitals of the season” and “a stunning display of mature pianism”. He also complimented “her sensitivity to harmonic color and her natural glorious romantic rubato.” (New York Concert Review). She holds a Artist Diploma and M.M. from Yale School of Music, where she studied with Boris Berman., and a D.M.A. from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Boris Slutsky.
Irina Rostomashvili is the former principal violinist of the Tbilisi Youth Orchestra in Georgia who is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma at the Temple University.
Dr. Meghan Woodard is an active freelance performer and teacher in the greater Philadelphia area. In November 2015 Meghan was a featured soloist with the Temple University Wind Symphony, performing the Concerto for Oboe and Wind Band by Lukas Foss (arr. Rhoads)—a piece that she also edited for a new edition with PeerMusic Classical. Meghan was also a founding member and manager of the Philadelphia-based woodwind quintet, Federal Winds, whom she performed several concerts with as part of the “Project Stream Grant” awarded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Meghan received her D.M.A. in Oboe Performance from Temple University in 2017 and studied with Peter Smith, Associate Principal Oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Fall 2020 Student Participants
Piano:
- Dishan Bhattacharyya
- Sophia Cui
- Michelle Dou
- Isabelle Hsue
- Gregory Johnson
- Aditi Karhadkar
- Daniel Lao
- Kelly Lao
- Andrew Li
- Evan Lu
- Sasha Murray
- Ben Qu
- Chris Qu
- Bambi Tang
- Carissa Uy
- Caleb Uy
- Brooke Woo
- Phoebe Woo
- George Zhang
- Ryan Zhang
- Jessica Zhong
- Felix Zhu
Strings:
- Suri Ahn
- Shalika Bhattacharyya
- Ozan Borowiak
- Chloe Chen
- Claire De Donder
- Syreeta Das
- Nolan McGrane-Moffitt
- Apollo Murray
- Chris Qu
- Luis Romano
Woodwinds:
- Ian Hsu
- Victoria Laabs
- Siena Schuerman
The Music Technique Skills-Building Program is open and encouraged for all NBS students. Our next evaluative competition will be in Spring 2021.
If you are interested in taking part, please visit our program page to learn more.
