Piano instructor Yuliya Barsky with her students.
Little did Yuliya Barsky know that when she began playing piano at the age of four in Angarsk, a remote Siberian City, that the Palisades Highlands would become her home. For the past three decades she has been legendary for her piano lessons for children, their children, parents and retirees in Pacific Palisades.
Then the Palisades Fire came, and her sole income was taken away, because people left the area and moved all over Los Angeles and to the South Bay.
“Many of my former students, who are now in their thirties came to my rescue,” Barsky said. “Maybe it was a daily check-up on my post fire mood, financial support or resuming their lessons just to keep me occupied and financially afloat.
“I am forever grateful to so many who were able to overstep their personal losses and see my situation as well: the loss of the community brought an immediate loss of my only income,” Barsky said.
Barsky, who has no children, has devoted her life to her students: they were her family. Since her students were no longer within walking distance, she would take her teenage students to museums, cafes and just to explore. “Sometimes we would be joined by a parent or a grandparent, sometimes I would take a student to a concert at the Disney Hall or a very stressed parent for a walk or a cup of tea,” she said.
But Barsky wants people to know she welcomes everyone back and is ready to give lessons. She provides music education to Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, Culver City and of course Pacific Palisades.
In Siberia, she completed 12 years of education in a rigorous school with six days a week of music: piano, theory, history, ensemble, solfège, singing in a choir, learning how to accompany other musicians and play in a chamber ensemble.
When she turned 12, she was able to collaborate with a professional chamber orchestra. Rehearsals were held at a Catholic Church, which remarkably survived communist purges of everything religious. Barsky played J.S. Bach, Mozart, Arensky, Gershwin, in beautiful spaces with high ceilings and stained-glass windows.
She completed college with a degree in piano pedagogy from Irkutsk College of Arts and then moved to the United States in 1990, to work for the Yamaha Corporation education division. While working she, attended UCLA, where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in piano performance.
“I opened my Palisades studio in December 1996, teaching all ages,” Barsky said. After the fire, the majority of her students are adults. Many are people in the Highlands. “I am yet to see most of my former students of younger age,” Barsky said. “I suppose it comes with them rebuilding, regaining their schools and community.”
Her work has been her sole focus. “I have been consumed by teaching for six, sometimes seven days a week,” Barsky said. “I have worked with families that had many children. Sometimes I would work with one family for 20 years, inheriting all kids and sometimes their parents.”
A recital for her students was held in February at her mother, Sheva Barsky’s Playa Vista studio. (Sheva also holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Irkutsk). In August, she organized three additional recitals in a remediated studio in the Highlands.
As the town reopens, she is also eager to once again bring music to retirement centers. Barsky would either take students or colleagues, such as a cellist, violinist and clarinetist to different centers.
Her studio is located at 1515 Palisades Drive, Suite L. People can call (310) 948-9889 or email Yuliyabarsky@yahoo.com or check her website www.palisadesmusiclessons.com.
Piano teacher Yuliya Barsky blows bubbles with students.