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Marina Veniaminovna Wolf | |
Marina Veniaminovna Wolf has, over her many years as a teacher at the Middle Special School of Music of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, trained a plethora of concert pianists.
On 1 December at the International Piano Festival matinee performance Marina Wolf will present some of her younger pupils, while in the evening her student Polina Osetinskaya will perform a recital.
Marina Veniaminovna, congratulations on your eighty-fifth birthday!
Yes, well (laughs). I had more than twenty people over visiting – friends and pupils. Not all of them, of course, many of my pupils are scattered all across the globe. But they phoned – some from Moscow, some from Philadelphia, some on Skype.
What were your own teachers like?
My main teacher was Vera Kharitonovna Razumovskaya, a professor at the conservatoire. When I came to her I was really a complete ignoramus. I had taken several classes at music school and spent two years at music college. Apropos, I also have fond memories of my college teacher Yevgenia Yurievna Geiman. By the way, she was a pupil of Yesipova. At the conservatoire, Professor Razumovskaya had been a pupil of Neigauz. These were my “musical parents”, my roots. These people played a huge role in my life. The education I received was a serious one, a classical one.
How and where did you start to teach?
When I graduated from the conservatoire, in 1952, I was sent to Saratov in accordance with the system. I worked as a concert mistress there for two years. I absolutely loved it. That’s where I started to teach a little. Then I returned, I was a concert mistress at the college and then I joined the ten-year school. It all happened rather fast. That’s where I spent my whole life.
Did you want to perform in recital or were you keen on teaching from the outset?
At first I played a great deal in Saratov and here too. But then I came to understand that I lacked ability. Everyone has to be aware of their skill level. That’s something I teach my pupils.
What criteria do you use when selecting your pupils?
It is the school that uses criteria when it selects pupils: an ear for music, memory, good rhythm and musicality. After that I don’t select at all. It happens as it happens. It’s just that Fate has shone on me. I have come into contact with a great many truly talented people. Many of them have made it to the big stage. Let me name a few of them – Stanislav Igolinsky, a professor at the Moscow Conservatoire, Pavel Yegorov, a professor at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, Grigory Gruzman, a professor in Weimar and Irina Ryumina, an ensemble player. Of the younger generation there are Polina Osetinskaya, Alexandre Pirojenko, Eduard Kiprsky and Rustam Muradov – these are the ones who will be performing at the festival. There will also be another pupil of mine, she’s now in the 11th year – Alexandra Masaleva. Nadezhda Rubanenko will be coming from Salzburg. Mikhail Yanovitsky is also a pupil of mine.
I have been very lucky. They’re not just talented people, they’re also beautiful human beings. I have been very lucky indeed.
Speaking with Svetlana Nikitina
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