On Saturday, Anna Dushanin took first place in the Ninth Annual Russian Music Festival/Competition held in the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, New York City.

Anna, 12, played “In the Middle of Plain Valley" by M. Glinka.  She is a student of Allegretto Piano Studio Nataliya Tkachenko at Allegretto Piano Studio on West Street. 

This annual competition, organized by the Talented Young Musicians Association of New Jersey and Boston, seeks to promote young musicians by encouraging and supporting their talent and ability in performance techniques.  

About 150 young performers participate in this annual competition.

Anna lives in Sharon and attends Sharon Middle School. She began taking piano lessons with Tkachenko in 2006 at age six.

"Anna and Nataliya are not only a student and teacher, they are friends and it makes the piano studying more effective and enjoyable," said her mother Olga Dushanin. "Anna is getting a wonderful experience of the music studying."

Tkachenko holds a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy with more than 25 years' experience in Europe and the United States which makes her a great teacher, says Dushanin, adding that she teaches all chronological periods of classical music and both European and American contemporary music.