I am a concert pianist currently living in Philadelphia! I am proud to have more than 20 awards from international piano competitions. If you want to read my artistic bio and read about the awards, and hear me play, please check my website. I am originally from Russia, and for the last two years I have lived in Europe. I’m back in the states in Summer 2024. Here is my story: I started out as a jazz pianist but began dedicating myself to classical music around the age of 14. Two years later I was accepted to the prestigious Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. I lived in Russia until the age of 18, and even back then I had major success in international piano competitions. I moved to the US to study with a Van Cliburn Gold medalist under a full scholarship at Park University. I later got my Master’s in piano performance at Yale University. While in the US, I played all over the country and won close to ten international piano competitions. During the past two years I have lived in Germany, where I tried to absorb as much experience as possible about the German piano tradition. I am a U.S. green card holder now. My strategy is to teach you to practice as efficiently as possible. Most people are wasting their time practicing the instrument, then get frustrated and eventually abandon it. I will show you how to make your practicing meaningful. The goal is to make it easier and more enjoyable, not harder. I would describe my approach as hands-on, but I am willing to give students as much freedom as they choose. I often ask my students to send me a video recording of their performance so that we can track progress and discuss our goals and objectives together. I send a detailed lesson summary and practice instructions at the end of every lesson. I try to be polite but straightforward. My job is to encourage you but also be clear about what is getting in your way. I am a perfectionist and encourage my students to push the bar as high as is possible at the moment. Although I have experience as a jazz pianist, my formal training is as a classical pianist and I prefer to offer only classical music lessons, yet the repertoire can range from early baroque to the most recent contemporary. Wishing you my musical best, Simon