Faculty - Piano

RUFINA GORIN
Director
Rufina Goring got her B.A. from Kiev Music College in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy in 1968 and M.A. from Conservatory Pedagogical division, Kiev/Nezin, Ukraine in Piano Performance and Choral Conducting in 1976, qualified to teach at grade school, high school and colleges. She has studied under Dr. Samuel Gindin, Dr. Alexandra Ostrovskay, Dr. Lydia Sure, Kiev, Ukraine who has being students and followers of the leading pedagogy methods of T. Leschetizky, A. Schnabel, and G. Neigauz.

Mrs. Gorin's interest and passion was to open beautiful world of music to her students, to give them skills and ability to create a beautiful sound (colorful tones), flawless technique, and ability to interpret composer's intent; in other words to give them tools and interpretive understanding. In continuing herself education, she has attended many seminars and training sessions from leading specialists in the field of music education, such as Frances Clark, Richard Chronister, David Krohenbule, Laurette Goldberg, Dorothy Taubman, Robert Page, Seymour Bernstein, Angela Hewitt, John O'Conor, and others. She maintains close ties to the music life of Moscow State Conservatory by attending its master classes, concerts and Tchaikovsky competitions from 1978-present.

Mrs. Gorin has being teaching at The Gorin School of Music (GSM), which she has established in November 1991. This school is accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Her other places of teaching were Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, California (1987-1991), Piano teacher at Agora Hill Music Conservatory, Agora Hill, California (1983-1987), Music instructor at Junior Music Academy, Thousand Oaks, California (1981-1984), Piano Teacher at private piano studio, Thousand Oaks, California (1981-1987), Faculty member, Music-Pedagogical College, Kiev, Ukraine 1973-1978; Mrs. Gorin also served as accompanist for Ballet Classes in collaboration with ballet dancers from Kiev Ballet Theatre, Ukraine (1968-1977).

Selected Student Accomplishments: Prize winners for number of years, US Open Music International Competition, Oakland, California; Prize winners, Junior Bach Festivals, Berkley, California; Prizes winners (more than a dozen, age 5-18), "Sound of Music Festivals", Palo Alto, California, and many other local competitions; Numerous students passed the California Certificate of Merit Program levels Prime to Advanced, and were chosen to perform at the annual Music Teacher's Association Conventions and participate in the Master Class programs at the Conventions; participated in the National Guild Piano Auditions with a high score of achievements throughout years of study.

Mrs. Gorin, NCTM (Nationally Certified Teacher Music), her Professional Affiliations are: Member of Music Teachers' Association California, MTAC (1979-Present), Member, Music Teacher's National Association, MTNA (1987-Present), Serving on the Board and becoming President of Palo Alto Branch of MTAC (1987-1995), Serving on the Board of MTAC and becoming MTAC Vice President (1995-2002), MTAC Program Convention Chair (1999), Young Artist Solo/Ensembles Competition Chair, MTNA (CAPMT); Faculty member of American College of Musicians, Austin, Texas (1987-Present), Evaluator for Certificate of Merit Exams, MTAC (1990-Present), Adjudicator for National Guild of Piano Auditions (1990-Present), Adjudicator for United States Open Music Competition, Oakland, California (1995-1997), Adjudicator for Reno, NV Music Festival (2010).

ROBERT GANS
Piano, Jazz Piano, Theory, Composition
Robert's journey in the music world has taught him that to reach people, it's necessary to speak their language, and contribute something meaningful to the conversation. He taught piano, music theory, and composition at the Portland Conservatory of Music from August 2005 until May 2010 when he moved to California. In 2008, he presented a solo piano recital featuring works by Beethoven, Wagner, Ravel and himself. In April 2009 Robert performed 2 of his recent piano works at the Conservatory's first Contemporary Music Festival causing one reviewer to comment, "Soundscape for Piano and Rhapsodic Variations, played by the composer, Robert Gans, showed that the Romantic style is alive and well at the conservatory." More recently he performed movements from the Escenas Romanticas of Enrique Granados.
In 2008 Robert completed a 3 movement work for string orchestra based on John Milton's Paradise Lost and a revision of his first musical drama, The Skyladder. In 2009 he wrote incidental music for a drama entitled The Streets of Portland produced by AIRE Theater at the St. Lawrence Arts Center and released a new CD entitled For the Very First Time. In 2010 Robert finished composing a set of five piano nocturnes entitled Dreamscapes which he performed at the Conservatory's second annual Contemporary Music Festival in April 2010 to critical praise.
Robert is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego with a Bachelor's degree in music. After exploring post graduate study he returned home to New York City to work in the music industry for seven years before moving to Portland, Maine, and then to Menlo Park, California.

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.

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.

AXEL SCHMITT
Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance from University of California Los Angeles. At age 16, he won the national German piano-competition "Jugend musiziert" with the highest possible score against more than 3,000 competitors. He is the prize-winner of numerous other piano competitions including first prize at the Los Angeles Liszt Competition (1996 and 1998.) He has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber-musician throughout Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Russia, and the United States. Highlights of Axel Schmitt's performances include his concerts at the Liszt Museum in Budapest, Hungary in 1999, at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas 2002, his performance of Rachmaninoff's second Piano Concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra in the same year, and the concert at the International Conservatory Week in St. Petersburg in Russia in 2003. In 2007, he performed Beethoven's Emperor Concerto for a sold-out audience in Germany and received rave-reviews from the press. Critics describe him as "a great pianistic talent" of an "amazing artistic range with a singing sound quality, tasteful power, noblesse, and calmness." Before coming to the Gorin School of Music, he has served as a faculty at Southwest Music Conservatory and a staff pianist at Biola University in the greater Los Angeles area. He is a member of the Music Teachers' Association of California and the Music Teachers National Association.A

NATALIA PRESSMAN
MA in Music and Piano Performance, Manuel de Falla High Conservatory of Music, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mrs. Pressman continued her piano studies in Europe with well-known master pianists. She has been teaching piano, theory, harmony and music history for the last 13 years in many of the music schools in Buenos Aires and Barcelona where she was also the Piano Department Director of the Eulália School. She also worked as piano accompanist for the National Conservatory of Argentina and other conservatories. She had performed in important halls of Argentina and Europe as a piano soloist and chamber musician. Currently, she join the faculty of the Gorin School of Music and working as accompanist at the Ballet San Jose.

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.