Concert Pianist • Educator • Artistic Director

Laryssa is a classically trained concert pianist and educator whose musical career spans more than three decades of performance, teaching, chamber music, and artistic leadership. She brings that depth of experience to her private piano studio in Morristown, New Jersey—a beautiful, focused environment where serious study of the piano is grounded in discipline, musical understanding, and individual attention. Laryssa holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Leon Fleisher and Fernando Laires. She later continued her studies with Jascha Zayde in New York.

A Distinguished Performing Career

Laryssa made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1983. Since then, her concert engagements have taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, and Ukraine. She has appeared as a soloist with the Rome Festival Orchestra in Italy, the Lviv Philharmonic in Ukraine, and the New Sussex Symphony in New Jersey. An accomplished collaborative and chamber musician, Laryssa has worked with distinguished instrumentalists and singers and has toured extensively with the Lysenko String Quartet of Kyiv in the United States and Ukraine. Her two-piano performances with her late husband, concert pianist Alexander Slobodyanik, included appearances at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Australian International Chamber Music Festival, PianoSummer at SUNY New Paltz, and the Music and Arts Center of Greene County.

Teaching & Musical Leadership

From 1994 to 2004, Laryssa served on the music faculty of County College of Morris. In 2000, as Music Director, she made her conducting debut with a production of The Secret Garden. Her work with young musicians has also included the Morris Educational Foundation's “Stars Meet Rising Stars” concert, where she auditioned, coached, planned, and performed alongside talented music students. Since 1985, Laryssa has served as founder and Music Director of the Nova Chamber Ensemble, whose annual concert series has presented works by Ukrainian composers as well as American premieres. The ensemble has also been featured in the Starlight on Stage series at Mayo Performing Arts Center. In 1994, Laryssa and Alexander Slobodyanik co-founded the Morris International Festival of the Arts. As Executive Director, she helped lead the effort to reopen the Community Theatre in Morristown. Now Mayo Performing Arts Center, the theatre recognized them as founders during its 20th Anniversary.

The Studio

Laryssa's approach to teaching reflects the standards of her own musical life. Study begins with a strong foundation in technique, musicianship, and disciplined practice. Students are encouraged to develop not simply the ability to play the notes, but the ability to listen, understand, interpret, and communicate through music. The studio itself reflects this philosophy: beautiful surroundings, a serious commitment to music, and a structured environment in which students can develop their abilities with purpose. For Laryssa, teaching is a continuation of a life in music—and an opportunity to pass on the knowledge, standards, and love of the piano that have shaped her own career.