Meet the City Music Center Faculty
Edwarda Kremen
Edwarda Kremen received her Bachelor's in Piano performance and pedagogy from the Mussorgsky Music College in St.Petersburg. She received her Masters Degree from the Institute of Culture in St.Petersburg, with the Major in Piano, Choral conducting and in Social Work in Organizational Management.
Mrs. Kremen worked as a piano accompanist and the Assistant Conductor in the Children's Choral School in St.Petersburg; In the USA Edwarda Kremen has performed with singers and instrumentalists and in piano duo with her husband.
Israel Kremen
Israel Kremen received a Bachelor's in Piano Performance from the Mussorgsky Music College in St.Petersburg, and Master's Degree in Music Composition & Music Theory from the Leningrad Conservatory of Music (Rimsky-Korsakov). His compositions were published in Russia. He got his Doctorate in Musical Art in Composition from the School of Music University of Michigan.
A recording of his chamber music was released by the ORION Records in 1984. His music which includes string quartets, violin concerti, and a vocal cycle, has been performed in many American cities. Recently he wrote "Kaleidoscope of 25 Preludes & Fugues" for Piano. He has played the organ in Lutheran & Methodist Churches and Reformed Synagogues, has worked as an accompanist in various Ballet and Opera companies. In addition to his teaching at CMC, he is teaching & playing at the Civic Light Opera.
Perry Jonathan Gatch III
Perry Jonathan Gatch III earned a Bachelors of Music Education and a Masters of Music Performance from Duquesne University.
P.J. has been freelancing in the Pittsburgh area since 1990 and has built one of the largest percussion studios in the region. He sees over 60 students a week. Every year several of P.J.'s students go on to study music at some of the countries finest music schools. He also keeps a very busy recording and playing schedule throughout the year.
Some ensembles include, The Pittsburgh Musical Theater, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, the Westminster Faculty Jazz Quartet and the River City Brass Band.
He is on the adjunct music education faculty at Duquesne University, City Music Center and at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. PJ has presented numerous clinics and master-classes through out the United States.
P.J. is currently working on a comprehensive percussion curriculum text to be used for music education and music therapy majors in college. It also will serve general music teachers, band or orchestra directors from the elementary through college levels.
P.J. is a founding member of the Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble. Tempus Fugit has released two CD's the self-titled, Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble and Push Button Turn Crank. They have played and offered clinics extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Russia and have played at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions as well as numerous MENC and PMEA convention appearances. Tempus Fugit has collaborated with the finest names in percussion, Stanley Leonard, Steve Houghton, Michael Burritt and Leigh H. Stevens, to name a few.
Dr. Taras Filenko
Dr. Taras Filenko studied piano and musicology at the National Academy of
Music in Ukraine, in Russia, and in the U.S., where he received his Ph.D. in
ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh. He has been working in
the fields of music performance (piano, organ, and chamber music), history of
music, and ethnomusicology for over twenty years. Taras’ professional
activity started in 1980 when he was appointed Assistant Professor to teach
piano and piano literature courses, accompaniment, and later music history,
analysis, and improvisation at the National Academy of Music in Ukraine. For
five years he also served as Assistant Dean at the Academy.
In 1993, Taras was invited to Canada (Edmonton, Alberta) to teach at the
Annual Music Seminars. As a pianist and accompanist he has performed in
England, France, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Russia, the Baltic
States, Yugoslavia, Canada, the Middle East, and the U.S. His recordings
include classical music and jazz arrangements.
The themes of Taras’s publications (more than 100) embrace ethnic studies,
musical culture and politics, ethno/historical musicology, music, and poetry.
His recent book, The World of Mykola Lysenko: Ethnic Identity, Music Culture and
Politics, has garnered several international awards. Taras was the recipient of
a Fulbright Scholarship to the United States. Since 1998, he is on the faculty
of City Music Center at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh
Jim Guerra, Chair,
Jim Guerra is the Founding Director of City Music Center's Jazz program as well as a prodigious performer and teacher in the Pittsburgh area.
Since his graduation from the Berklee School of Music in Boston Mr. Guerra has been an active woodwind performer and educator, performing extensively with various artists and organizations throughout the Pittsburgh area. Once a member of the U.S. Navy Show Band, he has performed with the Buddy Rich Band, Manhattan Transfer, the Glen Miller Orchestra, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, the Woody Herman Band, Rosemary Clooney, Roger Humphries, Michael LeGrand and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. He also traveled with the New York Touring Company's production of "They're Playing our Song" and has done CD recordings for John Wilson's Big Band, the Twenty-First Century Swing Band and Navy Wilson.
Locally Mr. Guerra is the founder, leader and music arranger for Pittsburgh's Sax Pac, a saxophone quartet underscored with bass and guitar. He is also a member of the John Wilson Big Band. He is affiliated with numerous local organizations: the Pittsburgh
Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Light Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra.
Mr. Guerra is currently a member of the adjunct faculty at Duquesne University, City Music Center, Rogers School for the Creative and Performing Arts and CAPA, the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. In addition to private teaching he is responsible for founding and directing various jazz programs and ensembles within these music departments as well as for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association.
In order to promote jazz education in the schools Mr. Guerra performs ongoing concerts for the Music Performance Trust Fund.
Throughout his career he has studied with distinguished teachers including Joe Viola, Charlie Marino, Phil Wilson, John LaPorta, David Liebman, John H. Wilson, Joe Allard and Nestor Koval. His professional associations include the Executive Board for the Pittsburgh Musicians Union (American Federation of Musicians), Music Educators' National Conference (MENC) the PA Music Educators' Association (PMEA) and the International Association of Jazz Educators' (IAJE). In August of 1997 Mr. Guerra was awarded a lifetime membership in the Pittsburgh Jazz Society.
Rufina Yefimova
Rufina was born in Moscow and started violin lessons when she was 6 yrs
old. She attended the Moscow Children’s’ Music School, the Music College of
Moscow and earned her masters degree in performance and music education
from the Moscow Conservatory. After graduating from the Conservatory she
was on the faculty of the Children’s’ Music School where she taught violin,
theory, composition and music appreciation.
Rufina had a prolific and varied career in Russia. For 7 years she was in the
first violin section of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. She was a violinist in
the Stanislavsky Opera and Ballet Theater and for 12 years was a member of
the Great Symphony Orchestra for Central Television and Radio of the
former Soviet Union. For 10 years before emigrating to the United States in
2000 Rufina was a member of the first violin section of the Russian National
Orchestra.
She and her husband, Gregory Buyanover joined the City Music Center
faculty in September of 2000.
Rufina is a member of the Butler, Westmorland and McKeesport Symphony
Orchestras. In addition she is a founding member of a piano trio which
performs throughout the area.
Rufina has one son, two grandchildren a dog and a cat!
