Mel
Bay best-selling author, Misha V. Stefanuk, started
playing piano at the age of five. He composed
his first piece when he was nine. Mr. Stefanuk
graduated from Boston University (M.M. in Music
Education), Belmont University (B.M. in Music
Composition) and Moscow Conservatory School (B.M.
in Music Theory). Misha also studied at Moscow
Studio of Music Improvisation Art, the Russian
Academy of Music, where Misha was a student of
Kirill Volkov, Aram Khachaturian’s assistant and
Dmitry Blum, Skidmore Jazz Institute, and Washington
State University, studying with Gregg Yasinitsky,
Charles Argersinger and Frank Mantooth. Misha
has written more then 120 works for a variety
of instrumentations, as well as music for over
thirty theater shows, including an original score
for Y2K Survival Guide with Leonard Nemoy. Misha
has composed a significant amount of music for
network television, including programs such as
All My Children and One Life to Live (ABC), Passions
(NBC), The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime) Young and
the Restless and First Monday (CBS). Among his
works are the Mel Bay best-sellers Jazz Piano
Chords (nr.1 in Jazz Piano since 2002), Jazz Piano
Scales (nr.3 since 2004) and Jazz Piano for the
Young Beginner (nr.2 since 2005), Jazz Piano Album
(2005) and Piano for Adults (2003).
Mr.
Stefanuk is a monthly columnist for Creative Keyboard
and a regular judge at the Chopin Youth Piano
Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Stefanuk
is a prize-winner of the Stereotypes and Nations
Composition Competition held by Muzica Centrum
Art Society in Cracow, Poland for his composition
Equinokse for oboe, string trio and prepared piano,
and of the Concerto Aria Composition Competition
at Belmont University for his piece The New American
Symphony. He was also named Outstanding Piano
Player at the l29th Annual Lionel Hampton Jazz
Festival, and has won full scholarships at Belmont
University, Washington State University, and Skidmore
Summer Jazz Institute.
Misha
and his wife, Evan, teach over one hundred students
at Johnson Ferry Conservatory of Music in Atlanta
Georgia and privately. Among them are recording
artists, TV personalities, winners of national
and regional competitions, and teachers. Misha's
students attended a number of prestigious music
schools in US, and abroad. Mr. Stefanuk has released
over twenty CDs varying from Contemporary Classical
to Jazz, New Age and Pop, including a recording
of Bach’s Inventions.
