Alena Gurevich, ARSM Diploma

In the spring of 2021 Alena Gurevich passed the Grade 8 ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) exam. Grade 8 is the highest level, and many students go no further. Alena decided to give herself another challenge, and this year prepared for and attained the ARSM (Associate of the Royal Schools of Music) Diploma, with merit! The ABRSM is a music education body with the goal of nurturing a love of music and inspiring acheivement in it. To reach this level Alena had to prepare a 30 minute program choosing mostly pieces from the ARSM list and a few of her own choice. She then worked with local pianist Donna Amato to perform and record all of the pieces. In the course of 10 months Alena learned and polished the Sarabande and Gigue from the Partita no 2 in d minor by JS Bach, The Graceful Ghost Rag by William Bolcom, Roumanian Dances for Violin and Piano by Bela Bartok, Chanson Russe by Igor Stravinsky and Variations on a Theme by Corelli by Fritz Kreisler. Click here to listen to the repertoire. The piece Chanson Russe was new to me and I’m so glad that I got to learn it with Alena. Give it a listen, it’s beautiful! Here are Alena’s thoughts on her preparation for the diploma recording;

“Preparing for the ARSM diploma required skillful time management. During the weeks leading up to the exam, I was involved in the Sewickley Academy musical and club lacrosse, which took up most of my evenings. Therefore, I practiced my repertoire between these activities and rehearsed with my talented piano accompanist, Donna Amato, on the weekends. Because all of my pieces were technically challenging, I needed to prioritize my limited free time to work on the sections I was struggling with.” 

Congratulations to Alena seeing the fruits of her hard work in attaining the ARSM Diploma, with Merit!