Winter Newsletter 2025
Hello students, parents, and teachers!
We hope you all celebrated wonderful holidays over the winter and are slowly but surely warming up as we head into the Spring. We’ve been busy here at Do-Re-Mi with planning events, recitals, and our summer schedule! Take a look below for a recap of goings-on around the school and what you can expect in the next few months.
Winter Recitals
Do-Re-Mi hosted ten student recitals between December and January to celebrate students’ work since the beginning of the year!
Over 80 students performed on piano, violin, and voice. A huge thank you to parents and teachers for your time and support over the years.
Summer Camp Registration is in Progress
Special Discount before April 1!
Even though it’s cold out there, summer 2025 is closer than you think! We’re offering day camps for Art, Chess, and Russian Immersion programs. We’re offering discounted registration before April 1st, as well as discounts for siblings. Feel free to reach out to the office with any questions!
Key Dates
Art Camp: June 23 - July 3
Chess Camps: August 11-29
Russian Immersion Camps: June 23-27 & August 25-29
Celebrating Chess Students’ Successes!
Congratulations to Dylan, Sophia, Agastya, Teddy, and Raeya, who have achieved significant success over the past several weeks!
Dylan T., a chess student in Coach Max’s class, ranked in the Top 50 among 8-year-olds in the US on the upcoming rating list! Dylan just crossed 1400 — up 300 points over the last 3 months.
Dylan’s mom credits in-person, over-the-board practice as a big benefit to Dylan’s chess learning. She says that “the Friday game sessions does help and is unique at Do-Re-Mi because no other classes out there have this resource. Also he made a lot of friends at Do-Re-Mi, and engaging him with friends having the same interest is important to keep his interest up. Apart from that, game analysis after the tournament is crucial for improvement, and Coach Max (and Coach Mike if he goes to the tournaments) is very good with that. They often analyzed Dylan's games. They are very good teachers.”
Congratulations Dylan and keep up the good work!
Sophia Bejenari celebrates a tremendous leap at the 2025 World Amateur Team & U.S. Team East Event! Overall, she scored 5/6, and recorded one of the biggest upsets of the entire tournament when she beat an 1800 rated player, which was 820 points higher that hers in round 3.
Teddy Wang and Raeya Nandyala each won their sections at the ICA Quads Tournament on Sunday, 1/12. They gained 154 and 147 USCF points respectively!
Agastya Chauhaan won the U400 section at Aquinas Academy on Feb 2nd, and won the 2nd & 3rd grade section of the Dwight-Englewood Scholastic Swiss on Feb 9th, each with a 3/3 score.
Agastya recently moved up from AB to Advanced Chess, and continues to attend the chess program at Do-Re-Mi.
New Faculty and Staff Spotlight
We’ve welcomed four new faculty to Do-Re-Mi recently.
Please welcome Elana Lekach (violin), Giovanni Jimenez (math), Yelena Mamonova (piano), and Ilana Goldin (administration), and say hi if you see them in the hallways!
Upcoming Events & Calendar
March 17th-23rd — Teach Music Week
The Do-Re-Mi School is participating in the 10th annual Teach Music Week! A number of free introductory lessons are offered across different instruments. Stay tuned (and in tune!) for announcements about various exciting activities and opportunities to help more kids and adults reap the educational, therapeutic, and social benefits of playing music!
March 20th — Math Kangaroo Competition
We’re hosting three sessions of the Math Kangaroo Competition for math students grades K-12. Over 45 students are registered from Do-Re-Mi, out of over 45,000 students across the country! Good luck to all the participants!
March 30th — Spring Showcase
Our wonderful piano and instrumental students have been hard at work preparing for the Spring Showcase. Join us to hear some new performances!
May 3rd — Movie Music Recital
Our special themed recital this year will focus on Movie Music - scores and arrangements from films ranging from Disney to Ennio Morricone and beyond. Students have picked their own repertoire and are enthusiastically preparing. Don’t miss this exciting lineup!
May 18th — Annual Russian Concert
Our Russian students, ranging from 4 - 16 years old, will sing, perform poetry and skits, and show off what they’ve learned all year in Russian class!