Vassa Shevel
Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Vassa Shevel won the Cappella Competition at age 11, performing the Bach Double Concerto, and later began her undergraduate education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, where she studied with Galina Orlovskaya. Immigrating to the U.S. with her family in 1978, she continued her studies at the New England Conservatory and SUNY Purchase, and earned her master’s degree at the Julliard School, where she was a teaching assistant to Oxana Yablonskaya. She has studied piano with Jacob Maxin, Russell Sherman, Jerome Loewenthal, Gregory Haimovsky, and Karl Schnabel, and chamber music with Yehudi Wyner Jennifer Langham, Lawrence Lesser, Nancy Cirullo, Paul Doctor and Robert Levin.
A finalist in the Murray Dranoff International Competition, Ms. Shevel has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Symphony Hall (Boston), as well as major venues and festivals in Europe. In addition to being artistic director of the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble, she is a member of the Philadelphia Piano Duo with Claire Belkovsky, and also maintains an active private teaching practice.