The first eight months

I completed my first year at The Juilliard School of Music, which exceeded my expectations in all respects, in early May. I am happy with the progress that I have made in all artistic areas in the academic year. Our academic year is 8 months long, divided into 2 semesters.

We all took initial tests in all subjects at the beginning of the first semester. Based on the tests, I was assigned the following subjects: Ear Training and Rhythmical Exercises 2, Music Theory 2, Counterpoint Theory, and an English course. I also have Music History beginning from the second semester. I “tested out” of the mandatory piano and Music Terms theory subjects. We all received selected parts of orchestra repertoire for the holidays. In September we played for the chief conductor and his assistants, showing how we’d learned the parts, and based on this we were assigned orchestra roles in this year. All first year “freshmen” must go through the “String Quartet Survey” where our quartet studied one quartet each by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert during the year.

For my major, violin, I worked with Maestro Dicterow all year and enjoyed it immensely. I take one highly effective one-on-one lesson from him every week. Then it’s up to everyone to work and practice at home. I give the violin all my free time after school. Working with him is very inspiring. Throughout the year, I received a wealth of incredibly useful and great advice. We did a lot of work; Mr. Dicterow welcomes all new ideas. During the year, I had a chance to work with conductors such as Maestro James Levine with whom we prepared Smetana’s Bartered Bride. It was the most amazing orchestra experience of my life. Alan Gilbert, Chief Conductor and Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, will be our new chief conductor next year. It will be an incredible experience for all Juilliard students.

I am happy to see that I am managing everything as I imagined at a university that is the number one music school in the world and that I am not the proverbial “fifth wheel”. It has been a year full of new knowledge, experience and a lot of new information not only about music for me. The school sent me to the Premio Paganini competition, and I got into the Juilliard School Orchestra Competition in the spring. I had an opportunity to play a concert with the Grammy nominee Santa Fe Pro Musica Orchestra. I performed Mozart’s No.3 Violin Concerto there twice. Based on the successful fall concert, I was invited to Santa Fe again. This time, I performed my own recital comprising compositions by Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Paganini. On the occasion, I also played a benefit as a soloist with the Albuquerque School of the Arts string orchestra.

Throughout the year, I used student tickets to see magnificent concerts and performances at the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic and New York Ballet. You can hear the best renditions of pieces by everyone from Bach to contemporary composers. When you’re in this global cultural hub, you cannot but use each and every opportunity that may arise. I really enjoy everything here and I will continue doing everything I can to be able to study this most prestigious university successfully. I thank The Kellner Family Foundation very much for providing financial support to me in this academic year, allowing me to make my plans and dreams come true.