Blog Archive 2016




Dec 18, 2016

This was the very first time when my dad took me with him to his performance at someone’s wedding. I couldn’t let him play as I just wanted to play myself. I kept shouting that my dad allowed me so. From that day on I never let go of the keys..


Dec 18, 2016

My daughter is getting quite good at animation :) Enjoy this Christmas-y animation from her, made entirely on scratch.mit.edu to accompany the soundtrack, composed by truly yours.

Merry Christmas, everyone!


Dec 3, 2016

Winter season is upon us and I invite you to enjoy my performance of Jennifer Thomas’s version of “Carol of the Bells”.


Nov 19, 2016

“Autumn Song” for autumn moods. Enjoy another month from Tchaikovsky’s Seasons.


Nov 12, 2016

New original song, romantic and jazzy piano ballad “You and I”. Enjoy the live video from the studio!


Oct 21, 2016

I wanted to compose an upbeat and a bit edgy soundtrack with some unusual fusion of styles and instrumentation. So, it turned into some kind of electro-ethnic-orchestral composition, starting with an ethnic percussion and a bass guitar and progressing into a full symphonic orchestra with cellos, violins, woodwinds, trombones, french horns, trumpets and timpani.

I guess, it would work for a chasing or racing scene, like James Bond movies or “Mission Impossible”. So, we found this video shot by Jesse Wood to accompany the track. Feels like it is matching, what do you think?


Oct 19, 2016

OmG!!! I am so happy, tears of joy, too excited to do anything :-), but gotta take a break from first attempts to play the violin.

Ironically, when at age of 4 I came to a musical school for the first interview, I was offered to play violin, but was afraid to lose it while riding buses to school...

... well, 33 years later with huge help from my lovely husband and my new lovely teacher I already pluck the first A major scale using 2 of the higher strings.

Life is so colorful, can’t stop smiling :-)))


Oct 6, 2016

On this day two years ago a grand piano came into my life. Wow, feels like yesterday and it’s been two years already. Wow, feels like it’s always been with me and it’s two years only...


Oct 4, 2016

Taking my musical education one step further: “Harmony” and “Counterpoint” by Walter Piston, “The Technique of Orchestration” by Kent Kennan and “The Study of Orchestration” by Samuel Adler. Studying is not cheap, eh :)


Oct 1, 2016

I know, it’s October already, but here is a bit of summer for you - “August”. Composed by Tchaikovsky, performed by truly yours.


Aug 20, 2016

We spent a wonderful week on Bahamas with my husband’s family. I felt so inspired that this song just popped up while cooking with my son, who co-wrote half of the lyrics. We hope you will enjoy this little video of our adventure.


Aug 5, 2016

My husband and I are continuing to learn how to compose orchestral soundtracks. This video was shot by my father-in-law Michael Chebotarev and Mr. Carlos de la Cruz during their diving tour to Cocos Island.

Before we started composing this soundtrack, we identified five or six distinct parts: the adventurous intro, the spacious transition to the playfully swimming sharks (who knew hammerheads may look playful?), the ominous appearance of the enormous whale shark, the following transition to the epic yet more soothing mood of swimming with the giant, some mysterious moments intertwined with amusing “chat” with the shark. We tried to set all those moods to music, using horns for massive and epic parts, woodwinds for the playful chapters and so on, trying to play around the same motif from the intro.

We all hope you will enjoy the video and the music!


July 10, 2016

With great thanks to David Klavins for inviting us to see this magnificent instrument and to Gergely Boganyi for the fabulous concert at Newport (Rhode Island). It was a great pleasure to touch this unique instrument!


July 8, 2016

Am I dreaming to touch and play this art of a piano? This is a unique Boganyi piano being prepared for tomorrow’s concert in Newport, Rhode Island.


July 7, 2016

Just me and my piano, starting another day full of music.. Have a wonderful day!


July 2, 2016

Continuing with Tchaikovsky’s Seasons: “June”, the first month of Summer season... Enjoy :)


June 18, 2016

Flowing with the music, feeling free..


May 28, 2016

Continuing with Tchaikovsky’s Seasons: “May”, the last month of Spring season... Enjoy :)


May 21, 2016

The first steps of learning how to compose orchestral pieces, trying to reproduce existing pieces by ear. I feel like I am ready to share the first experiment now. We chose quite a daring and challenging piece to reproduce - Carter Burwell’s “Forever” (a soundtrack in the last part of “Twilight Saga”). Instead of reproducing the exact replica, I tried to change it, making my own version. With the busy days that I am having now, it took a couple of months to compose this interpretation, mostly during weekends. My husband has spent the last two weeks mixing this piece, it was a new experience for him as well - to produce an orchestral piece. We both hope you will enjoy what you hear!


May 14, 2016

Sometimes it’s raining on piano keys...


May 7, 2016

Continuing with Tchaikovsky’s Seasons. Belated again, alas, but I hope you will enjoy “April” anyways!


Apr 29, 2016

Never thought I’d ever cover Metallica songs. But somehow it happened smile emoticon Thank you, Andrei Dreamspark, for singing this song with me. I’d also like to thank my husband, Arty Sandler, for producing audio & video, as well as our daughter, Sheana Sandler, and our friends’ son Maxim Kuzmenko for acting in the video. We all hope you will enjoy it!


Apr 20, 2016

It’s making my day! My improvisation “For Bach” is featured on City of Ottawa website and will be used in their phone systems for the upcoming months. Next Wednesday I am invited to the event marking the new content launch and meeting with Ottawa’s Mayor Jim Watson.


Apr 16, 2016

Just another improvisational flow. Hope you enjoy it.


Apr 10, 2016

I have a special love for Tchaikovsky, especially, for his series of Seasons. Here is a little bit belated “March”. Though, here in Canada we are having a “second winter”, so it feels pretty much like March at the middle of April. Hope you’ll enjoy my performance.


Mar 28, 2016

Happy Piano Day! Enjoy this playlist, including many wonderful versions of tracks from “Una Corda Fantasia” album.


Feb 14, 2016

Surprisingly, I was introduced to this song only a year ago and immediately fell in love with it. I knew I’d cover it one day and it feels to be the most appropriate day today to share it with you. I hope you’ll enjoy this duet version of this romantic song by John Legend. Many thanks to Andrei Dreamspark for singing this song with me so beautifully and to my husband for the audio recording and shooting this video. Happy Valentine’s Day!


Jan 29, 2016

I had the pleasure of visiting Steinway Piano Gallery Ottawa a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy this casual improvisation on my own song captured by Mitchell Wright.


Jan 23, 2016

Rediscovering the beauty of the classical music. Enjoy my performance of Edvard Grieg’s “Butterfly”


Jan 10, 2016

I got an absolutely fantastic New Year present from my husband - NATIVE INSTRUMENTS’s KOMPLETE Ultimate! He also got Pro Tools for himself in addition to the Propellerhead’s Reason that we had before. This soundtrack is our first attempt to use both tools: for composing and production. Lots of things to learn, the possibilities are truly overwhelming! The instruments used on this track include two of my favorite pianos: The Giant and Una Corda. The video is a quick collage of royalty-free stock clips to accompany the soundtrack.



Blog archive (2015)

Blog archive (2014)

Blog archive (2013)

Blog archive (2012)