On Saturday June 20th 2015  at the Taft school in Watertown, Ct. 15 of my students will be participating in our 35th annual piano musicale.   Students ranging in age from 7 to 18 will be performing. The works of Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Grieg, Satie in addition to many contemporary composers will be performed. Each student is required to perform three pieces.  In addition I will be traveling to Europe this summer ,to visit Poland the home of my ancestors and Chopin,  Prague  and  Lepzig, Germany the home of J.S. Bach.  I will be giving a small lecture and piano demonstration of both the works of Chopin in Warsaw and also of Bach in Lepzig. I will have three openings in the fall for new students as my high school students are graduating and off to college.

A new season of lessons is upon us, all students are progressing well after there summer break. I enjoyed the most recent concert at the Yale School of Music ,Horowitz Piano Series, featuring pianist Richard Goode.  His playing of the last three Beethoven Sonatas and selections from the Bagatelles was very enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the Beethoven sonata number 30 the 109 and the selections from the Bagatelles.  The next pianist scheduled in the Horowitz  series is Peter Serkin.  I have three openings remaining for the fall schedule due to some schedule adjustments.

Latest Book Recommendation – Beethoven:  Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford

Watertown piano teacher Thomas Mazuroski has started preparations for the annual Piano Musicale held at the Taft School in Watertown,Ct. in June. Fourteen piano students ages 6 through 17 will participate. All students will perform three compositions each, choices coming from the Baroque and Classical period in addition to broadway and pop compositions. An additional adult recital may be held and will be announced at a later time.Thomas Mazuroski will attend the Horowitz piano series at Yale featuring French pianist Pascal Roge.

Latest Book Recommendation:London by Edward Rutherfurd

Watertown Piano Teacher Thomas Mazuroski has only  three openings remaining in his Watertown fall schedule. I am enjoying all my newer students which include four new adults  and three children. I have watched an amazing piano performance by one of my favorite pianists Maurizio Pollini. Its called Pollini at 70 performing the Brahms 1st Piano Concerto in Dresden Germany and can be viewed on You Tube.  I am also seeing a performance this week with Leon Fleischer at the Horowitz Piano Series at Yale University. I recently saw the New Haven Symphony perform a diverse program which included Ives, Walton, Barber and Vaughn Williams. William Boughton the NHS Music Director has transformed the orchestra in to, in my opinion the best orchestra in Connecticut and one of the best on the East Coast. I will also be seeing in a lighter mood The Bill Charlap  jazz trio in a few weeks. Happy Holidays to all.

New book recommendation: KILLING JESUS by BILL O’REILLY

Thomas Mazuroski recently returned from two weeks in  the Russian Federation. My travels included visiting St. Petersburg and visiting the Hermitage Museum, Peterhof Palace, Catherine’s Palace and the Alexander Nevsky Monastery where the  graves of composers  Tchaikovsky and the Russian five are buried which include Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky -Korsakov and Borodin. I cruised on the rivers Svir,Volga  and lake Onega. I visited the towns of Mandrogy, Kizhi a Unesco World Site, Yaraslov and Ulrich which comprises The Golden Ring. In Moscow I visited the Bolshoi Ballet, Red Square, Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Gum Department Store, City’s Metro, Moscow University and The Kremlin Museum where the fabulous Fabrege Eggs are held in addition to hundreds of treasures. I saw seven different musical performances from The Moscow Folk Orchestra, to the Ballets Of Tchaikovsky , acapella Men’s Choirs and learning to dance a formal polonaise. I visited a Russian primary school and observed some classes and had breakfast with a middle class Russian family in there home. The Russian people where wonderful, cities spotless, no welfare as everyone works except the handicap. The city of Moscow is very sophisticated, wealthy and chic. I had a truly wonderful and memorable trip.

LATEST BOOK RECOMENDATION  — PARIS by Edward Rutherford.

With the successful completion of our annual 35th recital, summer will soon be drawing to a close.Those eight students who worked through the summer have made great progress, as summer is a great time to practice and continue lessons with out all the distractions of the school year. Thomas Mazuroski has a total of six openings left for the fall teaching year as he works with a limited number of students.  Mr. Mazuroski’s Russian trip will start shortly and he will report on his visit when he  returns.

Latest book recommendation:
I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford: Richard Snow