Special Issue: Our Alumni
Twenty Years of Making a Difference:
Our Alumni
How their lessons at the Do-Re-Mi impacted our alumni’s past-high-school lives?
Lucy and Casey Lunev: Music for the Young, Math, Russian. First “10 Years Together” award recepients (2012)
"When tutoring my adorable bilingual nieces or helping them learn through play, - says Casey, - I always fondly remember the teachers who set the foundation for years of academic excellence and professional success - Aleksandra Semenovna and Angela at the Do Re Mi school."
The girls started their Music in Russian lessons in a private group back in 2001 - actually before the Do-Re-Mi became a school. Moving on to Math and Russian, they became our first "10 Years Together" award recepients.
Lucy and Casey are 24 years old now. Both girls hold their Master’s in Strategic Communication from Fordham University. Lucy works as a PR in "Fi" company, and Casey was recently promoted at "Morning Brew", a renowned media company, where she works on brand partnerships.
Stanley Chernavsky - Piano
Stanley came to us as a cheerful energetic 6 yo to study piano. I actually remember when, very proud, he came to the lesson and announced: "I was practicing with a metronome today. And you know what? I was ahead of it!"
Then he decided to continue his piano studies at the renowned Julliard School - Pre-College Division in NYC from which he successfuly graduated in 2014.
A Stanford graduate in Computer Science, Stanley works as an Associate Product Manager at Yahoo.
Ethan Dunne, Piano
Ethan started studying violin at the Do-Re-Mi back in 2005, and then returned for piano "to improve his piano technique,
because he's seriously considering a career in music" as his mom explained.
After several years of hard work, determined to achieve his new goals, having his technique and musicianship greatly improved under Ms. Taya’s guidance and mentorship, Ethan was admitted into several music schools, including Rutgers and Montclair State University. He received his BA in Music and Music Education from MSU and is now on his way to MM in Piano performance in MSU.
Ethan works as a freelance pianist, and a piano and voice teacher as well as an arranger for piano and chamber music.
Maria Gronowska - Violin, Art, 2019 Graduate
“Thanks to my education at Do Re Mi, I am able to pursue my dream career in the visual arts. I feel that I really stand out because of the skills I learned from my wonderful teachers and the meaningful years I spent with them. I always look back at my time at this school in a very positive light: it was the place where my talents flourished and my unique skills were always supported and encouraged.”
Maria started taking violin classes with Alexandra Gorokhovsky and art classes with Katya Kardonova at the Do Re Mi School of Music & the Arts when she was 10 years old. She was very passionate about both violin and art; she joined the New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra for two years. They performed in Carnegie Hall and NJPAC. She also performed several times at the Polish Cultural Foundation and Polish Consulate in NY..
After 8 years at Do Re Mi and her graduation from high school, she got accepted to École de Condé in Paris, France to study Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, specifically easel painting. She studied there for one year until the pandemic started.
This year, she will graduate with an A.A.S. degree in graphic design from County College of Morris and is planning to move on to a 4-year school to earn a bachelor’s degree in graphic design. She continues to spend her time painting and illustrating and is working on making her passion a lifelong professional practice (notice the image of her book "Wanna Play Yoga":)
Justin Wang - Piano, 2017 “Ten Years Together” award
Justin started piano lessons with Ms. Marina Genina when he was 8 years old. Currently he is a senior in Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Information Systems and minoring in Music Technology. Some of his hobbies include DJing and music production with some audio engineering. He is active in various styles of music. For example, a tradition at Carnegie Mellon is Greek Sing -- a huge philanthropic tradition where each fraternity pairs with a sorority to put on a musical at the end of the year -- Justin is arranging some mini band arrangements for Beauty and the Beast as well as directing the band.
Max Brekhman - Music for the Young, Piano, Art, Theater, Russian. 2013 “Ten Years Together” Award
Max just completed his Junior year with double degree program to earn B.M. in Composition at Peabody Conservatory and B.A. in Applied Math and Statistics at the Johns Hopkins university. He is also a music director for one of his university’s singing groups. Since the beginning of his collegial studies he has premiered multiple solo and ensemble pieces, a film score and multiple vocal arrangements for his a capella club, and satisfied requirements for a minor in Jazz Piano.
Here is his "Better Than Gold" - Somos Tierra (2020 Gil Soundtrack Award Entry): https://youtu.be/xOrB-qCaQ4o
Max came to the Do-Re-Mi in 2003, joining Music in Russian for Toddlers class. He has been staying with us for 16 years - so far, our "longest" student. He attended various programs, the longest being Russian with Ms. Angela (he successfully passed Russian proficiency exam by College Board) and, of course, Piano and Singing with Ms. NANA who in large part is responsible for the path taken.
Sima (Serafima) Kardonova - Russian, Piano, Singing. 2016 “Ten Years Together” Award
Sima started her lessons with us when she was 5 years, together with her mom Ekaterina who was teaching ART in the Do-Re-Mi for 11 years. While choosing her major in Rutgers University, Sima experimented with Art Education (probably inherited from her mom), Music Education (utilizing her training at the Do-Re-Mi - Ms. Marina Genina; Ms. Nana), and eventually settled with Creative Writing.
Recently Serafima’s Co-Ed Fraternity, MuBetaPsi, hosted their annual fundraiser, Snowball to benefit the Save the Music Foundation. At this event, Serafima and several members of MuBetaPsi put together a band to perform live music at the event. She played piano and sang at the event.
Elizabeth M., Music for the Young, Piano, Singing, Theater. 2014 “Ten Years Together” Award
For the first time Elizabeth came to us as a happy, non-stop jumping toddler :) My first thought was, "How can we teach her?.." She came again in two years, being a very serious and verbal 4 yo. After a couple of years of Music and Movement, she started piano and singing, and hasn't stopped ever since.
Elizabeth just graduated from NYU, majoring in Music Business with a minor in Psychology. A former piano and voice student of Ms. Marina Genina and Ms. Nana, Elizabeth is now looking to apply her musical background to work on the business side of the music industry. She is actively pursuing career opportunities in the marketing and data analytics within the entertainment space, which focuses on understanding artist engagement on social media platforms, music streaming services, and consumers’ responses to brand partnerships and marketing campaigns. She is also interested in entertainment law. Elizabeth also plays chess competitively (she was working as a counselor in our chess day camp, as well), and she enjoys meeting new people, singing, and playing piano in her free time.
Alexander Kosulin, Russian, Theater. 2017 “Ten Years Together” Award
Most than anything, Alexander - the Do-Re-Mi Russian program student from 5 yrs - loves theater. Do-Re-Mi Russian theater is one of his many involvements in theater and dance.
In our shows, he performed the parts: Мачеха в "Золушке", Баба Яга в "Хлопушках", Кудесник в сказке «Я ль на свете всех милее?...» и Советник в «Снежной Королеве» which was nominated as the best supporting male role at the International Festival of Children's Russian-Speaking Theaters (Washington, DC; 2016).
That's why it is not surprising, that in spite of logical reasoning that "acting is not practical", he is majoring in Acting (BFA) in Marymount Manhattan College. Alex has Martial Arts black belt and is working as a Martial Arts instructor. Wishing him any success in theater!
Ten Years Together Award Recipients
Margaret Agajanov 2013 Marusya Arievich 2013 Mark Belikov 2017 Mark Belozeroff 2015 Max Brekhman 2013 Eric Brekhman 2017 Bella Brodsky 2013 Kevin Chari 2017 Janet Chari 2018 Michelle Chay 2022 Becky Dunaev 2013 Simona Falkovsky 2015 Georgia Fishteyn 2018 Ilana Goldin 2013 Max Gorbaty 2017 Sonya Gordon 2018 Sonya Gordon 2018 Max Handler 2015 Cade Hwang 2022 Dasha Ivanova 2014 Sandra Kalyan 2015 Sima Kardonova 2017 Katia Kazakova 2015 Juliana Kholodovsky 2022 Sasha Kizhner 2015 Filip Kizhner 2015 Nastya Klyashtorny 2018 Julia Kolker 2013 Dena Kolker 2017 Sasha Kosulin 2017 Misha Kosulin 2019 Ben Litvin 2013 Harish Lolla 2011 Casey Lunev 2012 Lucy Lunev 2012 Lucy Magid 2013 Andrey Matievski 2014 Liza Moshkevich 2014 Ethan Muchnik 2014 Oliva Muchnik 2016 Olivia Murray 2022 Diana Nichvoloda 2018 Linda Nichvoloda 2022 Josh Olovyannikov 2013 Ari Olovyannikov 2013 Evan Olovyannikov 2013 Michelle Ovchinsky 2015 Eva Rashkovsky 2015 Gerry Rashkovsky 2022 Julia Raspin 2013 Ari Robbins 2022 Zachary Shapiro 2013 Mark Shteyn 2017 Sonya Shteyn 2015 Ivan Shuvalov 2017 Molly Smolyansky 2022 Lukas Swee 2022 Stacey Teytel 2020 Artem Valyaev 2022 Justin Wang 2017 Ella Welber 2018 Ashton Welber 2020 George Yermak 2020 Yulan Zhang 2017