Steinert Piano Academy Instructors
About our Instructors
- We are nurturing and sensitive instructors.
- We inspire students of a wide array of ages, levels, and musical goals to fulfill their potential through piano playing.
- Among our students are competition winners as well as beginners pursuing piano as a hobby.
- We believe that the world is a better place every time someone plays the piano.
Director and Artist-In-Residence
Sonya Ovrutsky Fensome
Director, Head Teacher, and Artist in Resident, Sonya Ovrutsky Fensome has joined M. Steinert and Sons in 2014. Her commitment to teaching and inspiring young people in their study of piano music has been recognized with the Top Teacher Award by Steinway & Sons for several consecutive years.
Ms. Ovrutsky Fensome’s performances are known for their fresh, imaginative, and passionate interpretation. Her extraordinary artistry brings new life to a wide array of piano repertoire, from Baroque to the 21st Century. She has performed in major venues in the United States, Europe, Russia, and South Africa – including Weill Carnegie Concert Hall and Lincoln Center in NY, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Aspen Music Festival, Palace de Beaux Arts in Brussels, and Lucerne Music Festival. She performed as a soloist with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, and Neuchatel Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. She has performed in recitals with world-renowned musicians including Sarah Chang and Vladimir Spivakov, and continuously collaborates with her brother Mikhail Ovrutsky. Earlier in her career she worked as a collaborative pianist in the master classes and private lessons of professors Zakhar Bron, Dorothy DeLay, Mauricio Fuks, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin, and Pinchas Zukerman. Her numerous competition awards include the Aspen Music Festival Competition and Concert Artist Competition in New York. Her duo CD with Mikhail Ovrutsky, “Turning Points” recorded for Berlin Classics® has earned outstanding reviews and was selected as “CD of the Week” by RBB
Kulturradio.
Ms. Ovrutsky Fensome holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Juilliard School. She attended on a full scholarship, studying with legendary professors Herbert Stessin for piano and Felix Galimir for chamber music.
Instructors (in alphabetical order)
Christina Dietrich
Ms. Dietrich is a concert pianist, educator, and the Artistic Director of the Steinway Society of Massachusetts since 2017. She has joined the faculty of the M. Steinert and Sons Piano Academy in 2015 and was designated a Steinway Ambassador in 2020.
Ms. Dietrich has appeared as a soloist in concert and with orchestras and has performed on such stages as Jordan Hall, Symphony Hall, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Regularly scheduled on both the New York Public Library and the Chopin Society of New England concert series, her artistic achievement, and collaboration with the incomparable soprano, Danuta Sava-Wysocka led to a special invitation by the Consul General of Poland to perform at the Consulate in New York. This was crowned by a letter of recognition and thanks from then-President Lech Wałęsa of Poland.
A dedicated educator, Ms. Dietrich is a faculty member at Northern Essex Community College and Mount Wachusett Community College, piano department chair and faculty at Indian Hill Music, Founder/Director of the Chopin Conservatory of Music on the North Shore, and the Vice President of the Chopin Society of New England. She is a recipient of the Steinway and Sons Top Teacher Award for both 2017 and 2018 for her vast contribution to music education.
Ms. Dietrich received her Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Boston University. Her principal teachers were A. Ramon Rivera, Victor Rosenbaum, Veronica Jochum, and Professor Anthony di Bonaventura.
Liudmila Geyer
Liudmila (Mila) Geyer joined M. Steinert and Sons in 2016.
Ms. Geyer obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Ryazan Music College, where she studied piano under Marina Pobedinskaya – a student of famous Heinrich Neuhaus. She continued her study at the Saratov State Conservatoire, earning her Master’s Degree in musicology, composition, harmony, music history, counterpoint and theory.
Ms. Geyer is a nurturing instructor, who enjoys working with beginners and advanced alike. She incorporates ear training, sight-reading, and musical theory in her teaching, and puts emphasis on the fundamentals of piano technique.
Before coming to the US, Ms. Geyer taught piano at the prestigious Polyany School of Arts. A dedicated educator, in addition to her main focus, she also taught music theory and music history and collaborated with the Dance Program.
Ms. Geyer has been a Massachusetts resident since 2008. In the US, she has worked as a collaborative pianist with the Choir at the Needham Public Schools, and continuously collaborates with the Bellingham First Baptist Church. She is actively participating as a pianist at the events at the Hopkinton Congregation Church and Medway Community Church.
Yoojin Lee
Pianist Yoojin Lee, a native of South Korea, has extensively performed throughout South Korea, Europe and the United States. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music in Piano Performance at Sook Myung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, and Master of Music in Piano Performance at Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where she received a President’s Award. She also received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at Boston University.
Ms. Lee has won the 1 st prize at the American Protégé Piano and String Competition and The Lilian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition in NYC. She has appeared in The Lives of the Piano Concert Series-Mendelssohn 200th Anniversary Concert- in Manhattan School of Music, ALEA III (Contemporary Music Ensemble in residence at Boston University), and Arts Outreach Initiative at BMC in Boston. Ms. Lee also concertizes as a member of Duo Nouveau. Duo Nouveau has performed recitals sponsored by M. Steinert & Sons in Natick, Brookline Library Music Association, Newton Library, and Indian Hill Music in Littleton, MA.
Ms. Lee is a passionate piano teacher. She teaches at her private piano studio located in West Newton, MA, and at Walpole High School. Yoojin has joined M. Steinert & Sons Piano Academy in 2019.
Richard Lucius
Richard Lucius has taught children and adults at all levels and has many longtime and loyal students. He has been recognized with the Top Teacher Award by Steinway & Sons for several consecutive years. Richard joined M. Steinert & Sons in 2000.
Richard Lucius graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Performance. He has performed with various jazz and fusion bands and his own trio in the Boston area. Richard has played in all the major jazz venues in Boston and toured in Europe playing jazz, pop and rhythm & blues. He has recorded CDs with several local groups n different styles such as salsa, funk, and straight ahead jazz. Richard is also a composer, and has released an album of original compositions called. The album features several nationally renowned jazz artists, including Dave Samuels of Spyro Gyra, and Marty Richards of the Gary Burton Quintet. Richard is also versatile and experienced in the use of electric keyboards, synthesizers, drum machine programming, and music software composing.
Richard recently released a second album featuring more original compositions, as well as solo piano renditions of jazz standards.
Liya Nigmati
Liya Nigmati has joined M. Steinert and Sons in 2021. Ms. Nigmati has performed as a pianist and collaborator in Italy, Japan, Russia, the USA, Latvia, China, Azerbaijan, Canada, Hungary. She has been praised for her “stunning performance” by the Global Times. She won International Piano Competitions in France, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Russia. Professionally trained as a classical pianist since age 5, Liya has been actively on tour as a concert solo and collaborative pianist with prominent Russian Opera Singers and Instrumentalists since 2009.
Liya earned two Master’s and a Doctorate Degrees in Piano Performance from New England Conservatory in Boston and Kazan State Conservatory in Russia respectively. Nigmati studied with the leading specialists in the piano and vocal piano areas: Jonathan Feldman, Victor Stolov (student of E. Gilels), J.J. Pena, Michael Lewin (Grammy Award 2014), Y. Sokolskaya, Cameron Stowe, Max Levinson, A. Burnasheva (Student of H. Neuhaus), and has worked in the workshops with renowned singers like Jane Eaglen (Grammy Award 2002), Bradley Williams, MaryAnn McCormick, Matthew DiBattista, Carol Haber, and many more.
Liya has established an international concert series “Faces of Love” and a charity project “To Remember…” where she was a director, fundraiser, main artist, narrator in 2013 and 2015 respectively. With the program “To Remember…”, Liya brought classical music to the remote areas of Russia and showed herself as a gifted transcriber of orchestral/vocal music for a piano solo.
Amid the pandemic outbreak, Liya has worked as a coach on the living room project opera “¡Dime!” in Boston while also executing her duties as the collaborative pianist at the performance.
A Graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Liya has been an active performer, piano instructor, vocal (song and opera), lyric diction (in Russian, Italian, German, French), and broadway repertoire coach in the Greater Boston Area, and internationally.
Currently, Liya Nigmati is a Staff Pianist at New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the main Collaborative Pianist of Concord Chorale (NH), and a coach to many young professionals in the Boston Area. Liya is using imaginative techniques and compassion to connect to her students.
Anran Qian
Anran Qian joined theM. Steinert and Sons piano faculty in 2021. Anran Qian is an adventurous musician who not only loves performing on the stage, but also enjoys connecting with different people whether it is through performing classical music, improvising, composing, or teaching. Being passionate about arts, Anran strives to bring people together and foster connections between art and everyday life.
Born into a musical family, Anran started playing the piano at the age of four under the guidance of her parents. As a child, she spent many hours scribbling stories and realized that she loved telling stories on a piano keyboard even more than with a pencil. Selected amongst thousands of applicants to the Middle School Affiliated with Wuhan Conservatory in China, she received professional music training from the age of twelve. Possessing an adventurous spirit even at this young age, she left home after being invited to attend the Middle School Affiliated with Shanghai Conservatory and later completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at The Juilliard School in the United States, under the guidance of Jerome Lowenthal and Joseph Kalichstein. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University.
As a young pianist, Anran was a prizewinner and a finalist in many competitions including Valsesia Musica International Piano Competition in Italy, Pro Musicis International Award in the United States, Omille Piano Competition in China, Cooper Piano Festival Competition in the United States, and Beijing International Music Festival and Academy Concerto Competition. Her career has brought her to perform in different countries across the globe, such as Japan, China, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Besides performing, Anran is also passionate about social outreach programs and music technology. She was selected as a Gluck Community Service Fellow at Juilliard and performed different concert programs for local senior houses, medical centers, psychiatric houses and other health facilities. She also improvised and composed music for specific audience groups. Anran has been a performer and a music editor for The United Nations Chamber Music Society, where she performed and reached souls all around the world. She believes that music can promote peace and respect for human rights and cultures, and the dignity and the worth of each person.
Anastasia Seifetdinova
Anastasia Seifetdinova has joined M. Steinert and Sons in 2021.
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Ms. Seifetdinova gave her first solo recital at the age of eleven. Ms. Seifetdinova is a graduate of the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, Germany, and holds a Master’s and Doctorate degrees from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. Besides her primary teachers, Prof. Vorobyov from Kyiv, Prof. Matthies from Würzburg and Prof. Oxana Yablonskaya of Juilliard School, Anastasia also studied with D.Bashkirov at Mozarteum Salzburg and J.-E. Bavouzet in Sion, Switzerland.
In 2003 Anastasia received First Prize in the 14th International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Rome, Italy, and was awarded a Special Prize. In 2006, Ms. Seifetdinova won the Puigcerda International Piano Competition in Spain. In the same year, while studying in the Master’s Degree Program at The Hartt School, she recorded in Moscow the complete works for piano and orchestra by Balakirev with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra for NAXOS records. In 2008 Ms. Seifetdinova received the “Outstanding Award,” which granted her a return engagement to give a second solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2010 Anastasia was awarded a Special Prize for the best interpretation of French composition at the International Piano Competition “Parnassos” in Mexico. Her solo recital in 2008 at the Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago was broadcast live on WFMT Radio, the Internet, and on the TV Station “Channel 25 “; Anastasia was invited to play there again in 2011.
Her career continues with numerous appearances as a soloist both in concertos with orchestra, in solo recitals, and in chamber music concerts in Ukraine, Germany, Macedonia, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland, France, Russia, USA, and Japan. Centaur Records released two of Ms. Seifetdinova’s solo albums in 2016 and 2018, both recorded at The Hartt School. Ms. Seifetdinova’s highlights of 2017-2019 included a recital at Carnegie Hall and other appearances in recitals in Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Germany. In 2013, Ms. Seifetdinova was granted the Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts permanent US residence, given only to artists who attained the highest level in their field. Between 2013 and 2020 Dr. Seifetdinova was a freelance pianist at the New England Conservatory, as well as an Adjunct Faculty in Piano and Chamber Music at The Hartt School from 2019 to 2021.
Sienna Tabron
Sienna Marie Tabron has joined M. Steinert Piano Academy in 2021. Ms. Tabron is a classical pianist and composer. She holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has won prizes at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, American Protégé, Garcia Festival, and Anne Liva piano competitions, and has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall on four different occasions. Recently, Sienna was awarded the Valentine Award at the 2019 Rosewood Fanning Piano. In addition to managing her own virtual studio, Sienna also teaches piano at the Cambridge Music Consortium in Cambridge, MA. Hear Ms. Tabron’s performance.
Siyu Yang
Dr. Siyu Yang celebrates the versatility of piano performing arts as she has performed as a soloist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and cross-art forms musician. Apart from giving numerous solo recitals in academic settings and local communities, she performed Beethoven’s piano concerto no.3 as a soloist with the Minnesota State University Mankato orchestra and Renaissance & Baroque keyboard works as a harpsichordist in the Early Music Ensemble at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Recently, she performed her arrangement of J.S Bach’s keyboard works for her silent film: Tracing the Shadows of Gothic Bach as the prototype for her research in Bach keyboard music in American Horror Films.
A graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Minnesota State University, Mankato, and Shenyang Conservatory, Siyu Yang holds Bachelor’s, Masters and Doctoral Degrees in piano performance. Her primary teachers were Timothy Hoft, a student of Earl Wild, and David Viscoli, a student of John Perry. Apart from her primary concentration in piano performance, she explored her passions in harpsichord, organ, jazz, and film music studies during graduate school.
Siyu Yang’s teaching philosophy is that students of all levels have the potential to develop their musical language by receiving proper musical training. She values the knowledge of theoretical aspects and the development of healthy practicing habits in every stage of piano learning. She encourages her students to use classical music as a foundation to explore and appreciate a variety of music styles, and she encourages students’ creativity in piano performance, music arrangement, and improvising.
