Meet My Students

• Chia-ti (Katie) Fang, a native of Taiwan, is currently a DMA student in piano performance and pedagogy at the University of Iowa. She received her Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and both a Master’s degree and performance certificate at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, where she participated in David Burge’s master class. Last year she was the choral department accompanist at the University of Iowa.  Currently, she is the accompanist in the dance department.  Her main teachers include Ksenia Nosikova, Laura Melton, Jane Solose and Kristina Szutor. 

•   Shu-Hao Hsu (David Hsu), pianist, was born in 1978, in Taiwan and began studying piano at the age 13. He was a student of Shu-Jong Shan at the special class for talented young musicians at the senior high school in Pingtung City. He continued his education at the Taipei National University of Arts in Taipei City where his teachers included Professors Mai-Luan Chen, Z-Yu Kao, and Mei-Lin Wang. He received his Postgraduate Diploma in Performance (2004) and Master's degree (2005) from the Birmingham Conservatoire under the tutelage of Professors Malcolm Wilson and Simon Nicholls (Professor of the Royal College in London). While in the Conservatoire, he gave solo recitals at the Andrian Boult Hall and performed with percussion ensemble, wind quartet and several soloists at Recital Hall, Andrian Boult Hall and various churches in Birmingham. In 2002 and 2005 he studied with Professors G. Serova and L. Tamoulevich at the St.Petersburg Conservatory in Russia.
  He participated in numerous Master-classes with outstanding pianists, such as Andir Diev, Tatiana Pikazan, Carl Urquhart, Marina Maivani, Alexander Sandler, Richard McMahon, Bryce Morrison, Peter Donohoe, and Philip Martine.
  
  He won the Second prize at the Pingtung City Piano Competition (young stage) in 1995, First prize at the Pingtung City Piano Competition in 1998(adult stage), and Diplomas at the National Taiwan Piano Competition in 1996 and 2000. As a chamber musician and accompanist, he frequently collaborated with many outstanding chamber music groups and soloists in Taiwan. He has also performed in Taiwan, Malaysia, Canada, Russia, Greece, and United Kingdom.

• Joshua Russell is currently a doctoral student at the University of Iowa, where he is studying Piano Performance and Pedagogy with Dr. Ksenia Nosikova.  He received his Master’s Degree from the University of Iowa, where he has held positions as a teaching assistant in both the piano and choral departments.  In the Spring of 2001, he toured Ireland and Wales as the pianist and assistant conductor of the Bradley Chorale. Also in 2001, he traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he was assistant conductor for the “Petits Chanteurs” boy choir and served as the staff pianist for the École Sainte Trinite Summer Music Camp for Haitian youth. Joshua maintains an active schedule as a teacher and performer and recently traveled to Los Angeles, California to perform at the 2004 San Gennaro Festival of Los Angeles.

• Victoria Tsangari, a native of Cyprus, attended Lawrence University (WI) on a Fulbright scholarship, where she studied piano with Anthony Padilla and earned her B.M. degree in Piano Performance in 2000. In 2002 she received her M.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. She studied piano with Howard Lubin and pedagogy with Jane Magrath, and served as an accompanist for opera and music theatre productions. She then went back to Cyprus where she was active as a soloist, accompanist and teacher. Victoria returned to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue her D.M.A. at the University of Iowa, where she studies piano with Ksenia Nosikova and serves as a teaching assistant.

• Yee Sik, a native of Hong Kong, is currently a doctoral student and a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa, where she is studying Piano Performance and Pedagogy with Dr. Ksenia Nosikova. She started playing the piano at the age of four. She received her B.A. degree in Music from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2004, and her M.M. degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 2006. Her major teachers include Dr. Marc Silverman and Dr. Wai Cheng. She has played for numerous masters including Dmitry Rachmanov, Andre Laplante, Jerome Rose, Gwen Beamish, Sergei Dorensky, Esther Wang, Sown-Le Choi, Gabriel Kwok, Shirley Ip, Jackson Leung, and Flaiva De Souza.
  
  Yee Sik is the winner of the 2006-2007 UI Concerto/Aria Competition. She also won second prize in the First Toyama Asian Youth Music Competition, was the first runner-up in the Senior Chinese Composer Piano Solo Class, and was champion of the Recorder Ensemble in the 52nd Hong Kong School Music Festival. This and last summers, she participated in the Adamant Music School Traditional Piano Session on funding from Behre Piano Associates, Inc.

• Robert Monroe delights in beginning study with Dr. Nosikova in the fall of 2008 as a piano performance major and looks forward to interacting with the vibrant music community at the university. Having been homeschooled, Robert was unusually free to pursue his diverse musical interests. He began classical piano at age seven. His most recent classical piano and composition teacher, Tim Mueller, was a student of Madeline Bruser. Robert began study of jazz piano with Paul Langford when he was twelve in the hopes of learning to improvise and being allowed to play in his brothers' rock band.
  
  He has written over 20 compositions for piano, voice, and harp including a Bagatelle, a Prelude and Fugue, and a Mazurka. His compositions have been publicly performed at his recitals, church functions, and community college events. He attended Eastman School of Music Summer Jazz Studies in 2007. He received first honors in the Royal American Conservatory Examination at the Grade 8 level in 2006. He has provided regular musical entertainment for the Crystal Lake, Illinois location of PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) since 2004; has played for Sunday worship at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elgin, Illinois; and has played for wedding receptions and parties. Robert hopes to form an ensemble to perform his compositions to help change the world for the good. As a composer he attempts to create a style that combines seemingly irreconcilable to produce a coherent outcome thus expressing through music that different complex ideas can be complimentary.

• Meara Oberdieck is currently a Sophomore at the University of Iowa. She is from Fairfield, Iowa, a very small town about an hour south of Iowa City. She graduated high school a year early in 2005 and graduated from the Prucil music school last spring. During high school she placed in several competitions, and last year she won First place in the Regional Piano Competition and First place in category Open B at the Piano Music Teachers Association Competition. Last spring she also placed second place at the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra Competition. She received an almost full piano scholarship to the University, and is planning on getting Bachelors of Music.

• Casey Rafn is excited to begin learning as a piano performance freshman at the University of Iowa in Dr. Nosikova's studio! He was born and raised in Two Harbors, MN, where he graduated from high school in 2007. There he was president of both band and choir, and the music director of a junior-high jazz ensemble. He also was the student conductor for the school's wind ensemble. His last piano teacher was Dr. Jeanne Doty of the University of Minnesota, Duluth. In 2007, Casey won the DSSO Young Artist Concerto Competition and performed Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto with them. Apart from playing piano, Casey enjoys everything music including conducting and composing. Although unclear, Casey's career goals include either teaching music at high school or college, becoming a first-class pianist, or becoming music director of the New York Philharmonic. Either one will be fine with him.

• Krista Rowley is going into her third year at the University of Iowa as an undergraduate. As of now, she is a earning her Bachelors of Music on piano, an arts management degree, and an entreprenuership certificate. Over the past year Krista has been playing for Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for their worship and praise services. She also joined the Music Fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, and was elected Treasurer. Krista is very excited to meet new people from the University and contribute to the community. This summer she had the opportunity to accompany the Spirit Lake community choir as they sang the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" for the grand opening of the Sami Center (in Spirit Lake, IA). She played on a bright red, Elton John grand piano (which was even signed by him)! Krista is still enjoying being a part of Dr. Nosikova's studio and is excited for this school year!

• Philip Walker, pianist, was born in 1989 and began piano lessons when he was eight. From there, he studied under several teachers from the Music Institute of Chicago, including Abraham Stokman, Soo Lee, and Emilio del Rosario. He also began the cello at age 10, but mainly focused on the piano. He played both piano and cello in Adlai E. Stevenson High School's orchestra and chamber groups. In 2002 he received third prize at the Chicago Area Music Teacher's Association (CAMTA) Piano Contest. In 2004 he won second prize at the Society of American Musicians (SAM) Scholarship Competition (Intermediate Division) and first prize at the Geneva Swedish Days Granquist Music Competition. In 2007 he was a finalist in the SAM Scholarship competition (Senior Division).

•   Dr. Nosikova performing in Maliy Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Age 7.

Hayk Arsenyan, DMA (2007)

Lilia Stoycheva, DMA (2005)

Rebekah Buss, MA (2003)

Joana Holanda, MA (2000)

Laura Tiong, MA (2000)

Bethany Crane, BM (2004)

Sara Mueske, BM (2000)

Katie Mills, BM (2002)

Lindsey Ottaviano, BA (2007)

Katy Richter, BA (2007)

Michael Stabler, BA (2006)

Rachel Bockenstedtr, BA (2005)

Ashley McBurney, BA (2005)

Eunice Lee, BA (2003)

Martha Serrano, BA (2002)

Magdalina Melkonyan