Faculty - Piano

RUFINA GORIN
Director
MA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, Nezin Gogol Music Teachers' Training Institute, Ukraine. B.A. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, Music College, Kiev, Ukraine. Currently, Ms. Gorin is a faculty member at National Guild Performance Auditions, an adjudicator of CM and National Guild Performance Auditions, Sound of Music Festival, U.S. Open Piano Competition, and others. Mrs. Gorin has been an active member of the Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC) since 1981, serving on the Board of Palo Alto Branch since 1988 and as branch president 1993-1995. She was elected to the State Board of MTAC in 1996 and served for four years, completing her tenure there as a Vice President. Previously, Ms. Gorin was piano faculty chair and piano teacher at Special Children's Music School, Kiev, Ukraine; Accompanist for Children's Ballet Group, Kiev Ballet Company, Ukraine; and a piano teacher at Junior Music Academy and Conejo Valley Conservatory, Thousand Oaks, CA.

SOFIA KABANSKAYA
MA in Piano Pedagogy and Accompaniment, Yereven Conservatory of Music, Armenia. BA in Music Education, Music College, Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Ms. Kabanskaya has been an accredited piano teacher and accompanist in schools in Ukraine and Russia for many years, including the Music School of Arts, Mauripol, Ukraine, the Tomsk Music College in Russia and the Music College of Dnieprodzershinsk, Ukraine. Currently, she is an accompanist for voice and ballet classes in San Francisco and performs chamber music in the Bay Area.

LYUDMILA KARPOVSKAYA
BA The Rimsky Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory Studio, Russia. M.S. The Institute of Motion Picture Engineering, St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Karpovskaya currently is a piano teacher and an accompanist for instruments and voice at GSM. Previously, she was a film technologist at St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio. Ms. Karpovskaya has performed in concerts as a piano soloist at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the Pushkin Museum.

TATYANA KOLUBELOVA
BA, Music College of Moscow, Russia. Currently, Ms. Kolubelova teaches piano at GSM. Previously, Ms. Kolubelova taught piano at the Children Music School in Moscow, Russia.

NINA KOUCHNIR
BA in Piano Teaching, Voronezh College of Music and Pedagogy, Russia; BA in Music and Choral Teaching, Voronezh College of Music and Pedagogy; MA Degree in Pedagogy, State University, Voronezh. Ms. Kouchnir has taught piano and theory of music for over 25 years at Voronezh Children's Music School and has been a private piano and music teacher in Palo Alto and Cupertino, CA.

MARINA MADOYAN
MA in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy, Yerevan Conservatory of Music, Armenia. BA in Music Education, Music College, Yerevan, Armenia. Ms. Madoyan has been an accredited piano teacher and accompanist in schools in Armenia and Israel for last 19 years. Currently, she is teaching piano at GSM, Mountain View, California.

PATRIC NIKOLAS
Piano with emphasis on improvisation, jazz, and composition
BA in Music Performance, California State University, Chico. Grand Prize Winner of the California Composers Today
Competition, Patric Nikolas is an acclaimed Jazz Pianist, and an accomplished teacher in demand. He is an Active
Member of the MTAC, Vice-President of the International Russian Music Piano Competition, and Vice-President of the Steinway Society. A serious player on the solo concert scene, his eclectic no-holds-barred performances are not to be missed. Nikolas' philosophy is that he believes in art, the creative potential of every human being, and the necessity of student-centeredness. He believes that music is a complete art form, and demands a complete approach. He covers reading, theory, history, and improvisation, and he does it in as informative and relevant a manner as his training and passion can allow.

MZIA KOKRASHVILI ROVNER
MA in Piano Performance; teacher, concertmaster, soloist of chamber ensemble Tashkent State Conservatory USSR, which is equivalent to Master of Arts Degree in Music in the US Educational Evaluation Services (ERES) Sacramento, CA. Currently, Ms. Rovner is teaching piano at GSM; she is an active member of the Music Teacher Association of California (MTAC), member of the National Guild for Piano Teachers. Previously, Ms. Rovner was piano instructor in Tbilisi State Conservatory (Georgia), in Tbilisi City College of Music, Brno City University, CZ; Head of Music Department in Television of Tbilisi; Director and piano teacher at Tbilisi City Junior School of Music; concertmaster or Violinists in the Tashkent State Conservatory and Artists Philharmonic Society; performing artist in tours in various republics of the Soviet Union as well as international tours in Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary and Egypt.

RUBINE SHAHBAZYN
Professional concertmaster. Post Graduate study of Music Performance, Education and Accompaniment, Music Conservatory, Yerevan, Armenia. Master's Degree from Gnesin's Musical Academy, Moscow, Russia. Experienced piano teacher, worked at State Music College, Yerevan, Armenia; educator at Quito Musical Conservatory, Quito, Ecuador; soloist and concertmaster in Quito Symphonic Orchestra.

NAMIK SULTANOV
Ph.D., Moscow State Conservatory, Russia. BA in Piano Performance, Moscow State Conservatory. After debut performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto at the age of thirteen, Dr. Sultanov was recommended by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan to enter the Central Music School of Moscow State Conservatory. Dr. Sultanov has taught piano at Azerbaijan State Conservatory, Baku, Azerbaijan; held the position as a Visiting Associate Professor in Bilkent University, Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Ankara, Turkey, where he also served as a Vice Dean, Acting Dean, and the Chairman of the Piano Studies Department at Bilkent University. Dr. Sultanov has performed in solo, chamber and concerto recitals throughout the [former] USSR, as well as Mexico and Turkey, was selected to premier the performances of Azerbaijani composers, and has recorded a CD in Switzerland and USA. Dr. Sultanov has published many papers devoted to different problems of piano performance. During his teaching years in Azerbaijan and USA, Dr. Sultanov has nurtured many students who have become winners and laureates in regional, national and international piano competitions. Dr. Sultanov has been invited to serve on juries for national and international piano competitions and in sought of master classes. He gives recitals in San Francisco Bay Area.