MISHA V. STEFANUK

Mel Bay's best-selling author, Misha V. Stefanuk, started playing piano at the age of five. He composed his first piece when he was nine. Mr. Stefanuk graduated from Boston University with (M.M. in Music Education), Belmont University with (B.M. in Music Composition) and Moscow Conservatory School with (B.M. in Music Theory). Misha also studied at Moscow Studio of Music Improvisation Art, the Russian Academy of Music, where Misha was a student of Kirill Volkov, Aram Khachaturian's assistant, and Dmitry Blum, Skidmore Jazz Institute, and Washington State University, studying with Gregg Yasinitsky, Charles Argersinger, and Frank Mantooth. Misha has written more than 120 works for a variety of instrumentations, as well as music for over thirty theater shows, including an original score for Y2K Survival Guide with Leonard Nemoy. Misha has composed a significant amount of music for network television, including programs such as All My Children and One Life to Live (ABC), Passions (NBC), The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime) Young and the Restless, and First Monday (CBS). Among his works are the Mel Bay best- sellers Jazz Piano Chords (nr.1 in Jazz Piano since 2002), Jazz Piano Scales (nr.3 since 2004), and Jazz Piano for the Young Beginner (nr.2 since 2005), Jazz Piano Album (2005) and Piano for Adults (2003). Mr. Stefanuk is a monthly columnist for Creative Keyboard and a regular judge at the Chopin Youth Piano Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Stefanuk is a prize-winner of the Stereotypes and Nations Composition Competition held by Muzica Centrum Art Society in Cracow, Poland for his composition Equinokse for oboe, string trio, and prepared piano, and of the Concerto Aria Composition Competition at Belmont University for his piece The New American Symphony. He was also named Outstanding Piano Player at the 29th Annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and has won full scholarships at Belmont University, Washington State University, and Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute.