November 28, 2008

If its not baroque…

Students at the Polonsky Piano School, located in Evergreen Village, competed in a Baroque Piano Music Festival on Nov. 15-16. On Saturday at the school, 81 students prepared for the competition on Sunday. Then, 24 of the students played at Santa Clara University Recital Hall in front of a distinguished jury: Dr. Irina Prilipko, the President of an International Piano Music Competition in San Jose, and Dr. N. Sultanov, Professor of Piano at San Jose University. All performers did a wonderful job preparing for this event, learning three difficult Baroque pieces from such composers as Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Pachelbel, Vivaldi, etc., and all of them received numerous trophies, rewards and medals.

Since its inception in 1996, the Polonsky Piano School has offered a performance-oriented program for students to learn piano and voice, and violin and guitar. This “Russian School of Music” employs teachers from all over the world; however, the majority are from Russia. According to the School’s founder, Russian-born Dr. Viktor Polonsky, “All of our teachers blend their international experiences with a unique teaching method of our School to produce high-quality results.”

Dr. Polonsky and his wife Anna have had many years as performers and teachers. They had worked as Professors of Piano with the Russian Conservatories prior to emigrating to the U.S. in 1990, and at Miami and Dayton Universities in the U.S. and have played concerts all over the globe. They believe kids who learn music become better humans overall.

Each student performs three to four times a year in School’s and outside recitals as a rule, and audition regularly for the National Piano Guild judges and numerous competitions. “It is very rewarding for kids to perform in front of the public and get the sense of success and achievement, to receive applauses from audience and presents from teachers. Every year, School’s students became winners of many Bay Area piano competitions, International Russian Competition, U.S. Open competition, etc.

To learn more about PPS, visit the Web site www.polonskypianoschool.com, and/or call the School at 472-3280 or 828-7641 between 4 to 8 on weekdays, and 1 to 4 on Saturday.