Biography
I am an author and composer. My book, Russian Folk Songs: Musical Genres and History, was published by Scarecrow Press in 2002. I have contributed cover and feature articles to The Guardian (London), Parade Magazine, Air&Space/Smithsonian, The Moscow Times, Schwann Publications, Gramophone Online Magazine, Andante.com Magazine and American Record Guide, among others. I have served as a features writer, columnist and classical music critic for various daily and weekly newspapers in Connecticut. I am the author of numerous articles on classical music in the Encyclopedia Americana, for which I work as a contributing editor. I am also an editor for Musica Russica, Inc. My choral compositions and arrangements of Russian vocal compositions and folk songs have been published by Oxford University Press, Hal Leonard, and Musica Russica. I am a member of the Authors Guild and ASCAP.
I give lectures at various universities on Russian folk and national music.
I come from Russia, where, as a concert pianist, I was an active performer of both solo and chamber music. I also served as an assistant conductor at the Moscow Academic Stanislavsky Opera and held a faculty position at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute.