My STORY
For over 20 years I’ve been primarily performing and teaching music in various venues and environments.
I worked with students of all ages, abilities, and interest levels at elementary schools, universities, and everything in between.
Many of my students became successful in competitions and chose music as a career path, while many others went on to simply love music and found much happiness in other avenues of life.
The longer I did this, the more frequently a question was appearing: How else can I serve the world through my profession? Gradually this question made its way from the back of my mind to the front of my face. I looked deeper into my past for an answer.
What I found is that throughout the years I was constantly faced with being in the middle of two fires and reconciling the opposites.
As a child, I often found myself in between two friends who were fighting or I was trying to reason two arguing classmates out of a conflict (for which I earned a nickname ‘cop’). Whether they were family members or strangers on a train ride - I always felt the urge to make peace in the middle of a conflict.
Perhaps I was unconsciously living up to my name which means ‘peace’ in Greek. In addition, I was living in Latvia, where people whose native language was Russian were not too welcomed (this ultimately culminated in a neighbor throwing a stone at me and subsequently, Latvia’s separation from the former Soviet Union).
To top that, I had citizenship of a country that ceased to exist the year I got my passport.
When I came to the US at almost 20 years of age I faced another conflict - everything I learned about right and wrong went up in the air and I had to start over.
I was already familiar with being a foreigner and speaking an unwelcome language, but living among such a vast variety of opposing opinions was a new challenge.
It was very distracting and I found myself constantly torn among choices.
I eventually realized that in order to make sense of it all, I had to rise above individual opinions and cultural differences. I had to seek values that transcend the continent I was living in.
Music helped me hold it together like glue that had me stick to a place that indeed transcended language, culture, and even time.
I didn’t know it then but I am convinced now that music is an incredible tool we are given to resolve our own dissonance.
As I am working with students today, I see that they are very much distracted by opposing opinions and torn when making choices, just like I was over 20 years ago. There isn’t much guidance on how to solve these problems in their environment - just more should’s and could’s.
When people play music though, another dimension opens up inside of them - something that is above it all - a place where they are confident and fearless to take on life’s challenges because as we look at problems from above they don’t seem so big. It is not an escape from reality but rather a different perspective.
Opposites and conflicts are an important part of our world. In fact, I see them as gifts because they challenge us to expand our abilities to think and feel, as we strive to find balance.
The art of balancing dissonance and consonance in music is a perfect example of this.
In many instances, a particular chord sounds unpleasant or out of place. Yet, what follows that chord can not only release the tension of the dissonance but enhance its meaning in a longer phrase, making it an essential part of creating powerful expression.
This, however, can only be recognized and enjoyed when we have the tools to understand the laws of harmony.
Our own music-making process is strikingly similar to the above scenario. The unpleasant roadblocks in learning, such as note reading, memorization, and others, are ‘dissonances’ that can be resolved through understanding, which in turn leads to a higher level of enjoyment in music.
My experience with using music as a tool to resolve inner dissonance has been the greatest journey and I am excited to share this experience with people who work with me.
Through the years I developed a special way of teaching music in which the goal lies beyond acquiring the skill.
It empowers students to achieve their best resonance with the world through insights into the fundamental principles that guide the craft of music.
Seeing the amazing results this method delivered for my students, I decided to expand my work to helping musicians beyond Charleston where I currently live.
That’s why I am excited to share that I am opening an online music coaching program as an accessible opportunity to work with me on transcending your playing skills and mastering the fundamental craft of music so that we can resolve all the tensions that you have encountered along your musical journey and help you achieve liberating and enjoyable music-making experience.
I am honored to serve the world in this way because it is not just my profession - it is my passion.
If you would like to find out more about my new venture and discover how I can serve you, I invite you to a conversation. I’m looking forward to talking to you!
“Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.”
- Carl Fagan
Dr. Irina Pevzner was born in Ukraine and raised in Riga, Latvia. She began studying piano at the age of 7 at one of the city’s special music school for children. The successful completion of an eight-year piano performance program culminated in a solo appearance at Latvia's National Young Musicians Festival.
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After graduating from the Riga Jazep Medins Music College with the Music Theory and History specialization, Pevzner moved to the United States. She now holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Mansfield University of Pennsylvania where she double majored in Piano Performance and Music Education, a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Carnegie Mellon University, a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, and the Artist Certificate from the College of Charleston.
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Since the studies, Dr. Pevzner’s life has been revolved around performing, teaching, and creating programs that inspire communities through music culture.
As a chamber music performer, Irina has been distinguished by the Washington Post as “a splendid collaborator…whose clean articulation and keen sense of balance makes her a true partner in music making.” She performed as a soloist and ensemble performer in Latvia, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and throughout the east coast of the U. S. She is a frequent performer at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Locally, she was featured in the International Piano Series, South Carolina Chamber Music Festival, Monday Night Concert Series, Rush Hour Concert Series, Bishop Gadsden Concert Series, and Emily Remington Concerts.
Currently, she plays with Terranova Piano Trio and regularly performs as one of the core members of Chamber Music Charleston where she has been engaged for over 15 seasons.
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While continuing solo and chamber music performance career, she served on the faculty at the College of Charleston for 11 years where she taught piano, music theory, and ear training. In addition, she has been teaching at the Charleston Academy of Music since its founding year and became its Executive Director in 2015. At the Academy, she initiated Programs such as Music Discovery, Charleston Sonatina Festival, and continues to engage people of all ages in experiencing the transformational power of music.
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A number of Dr. Pevzner’s students have achieved success in local and national competitions. Whether they choose music as their profession or venture into a different field, her alumni continue the journey of creativity, inspiration, and excellence that was set out in their early years of music study.
In addition to numerous master classes, Dr. Pevzner presented in various events and settings throughout the years, covering topics such as Music Entrepreneurship, Motivation, Memory, as well as multiple pedagogical aspects. The highlights of her speaking engagements include World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Phoenix, AZ, Encontro Internacioal sobre Pedagogia do Piano in Santa Maria, Brazil.
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Her dissertation titled Forgotten Russian Piano Music: The Sonatas of Anatoly Aleksandrov was published by Scholar’s Press.
‘ I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand’.
- Confucius