Blog Archive 2017



Dec 29, 2017

Days go by, the New Year is just around the corner and it’s -25C outside. This year was full of surprises, challenges and incredible outcomes. Thank you and have a wonderful New Year ahead! And I hope you will enjoy this ambient “Escape of the Mind” from the “Una Corda Dream” series.


Dec 24, 2017

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy this magical Tchaikovsky’s composition on this wintry day!


Dec 23, 2017

The idea to have an animated cartoon for “The Snow Queen Waltz” was quite spontaneous. We hope you will enjoy this followup to the theatrical musical video we posted a week ago! Created by “Издательство “Союз писателей”.

Anyhow, enjoy! And please tell us if it is interesting enough to continue with the series ;-)


Dec 21, 2017

So, here comes the first episode of “The making of” series where we talk about how the song was born and the whole was conceived. It’s one of the longest episodes in the series (except for the last one), we hope it’s not too long ;-) Don’t forget that you can click that “CC” icon under the video to turn on the subtitles. Also, sorry for the sound quality in the recording, we accidentally clicked “input boost” button and there you go - our voices sound distorted... The sound in the next episodes is way better.

Anyhow, enjoy! And please tell us if it is interesting enough to continue with the series ;-)


Dec 16, 2017

We’d like to tell you a story! A story about the Snow Queen. Not the one you all know about! Not cold, not evil! This is a story about a woman, a woman who had a dream. A romantic one? Of course! With some magic? For sure! Do you want to know how it happened?


Dec 9, 2017

I can’t believe it’s just one week away from the release of “The Snow Queen Waltz”!! So much work and effort went into this. These days we are busy filming “The making of the Snow Queen Waltz” and that video turns to be way longer than the music video itself: all kind of behind-the-scenes footage, our chats where we are talking about how the idea was conceived, how we worked on music, the story, looking for venues, decorations, costumes and so on. We got 10 or so episodes, most of them are about 10 minutes long, some of them are a bit longer. After the release we will be posting them one or two episodes per week, hope it will be an interesting watch!

Meanwhile, here is another improvisation on The Giant, also a Waltz, though, a different one :-)


Nov 30, 2017

Do you want to know what piano was used in “The Snow Queen Waltz”?
...
...
It’s a unique piano that was created 30 years ago by David Klavins. I had the chance to play it in real life two years ago and it was quite a magnificent experience. It is called The Giant for a reason - the sheer power of the two-story piano makes you resonate with it, as if you are sitting inside the ocean of sound. Yet, I found that the power of it is... gentle! Of course, no digital version of it can compare to the real piano, yet it’s always a wonderful experience to close my eyes and imagine myself sitting again on the balcony of the real Giant and touching its keys. So, the piano on “The Snow Queen Waltz” is the digital version of The Giant. And I hope you will enjoy this spontaneous improvisation that we recorded last week.


Nov 25, 2017

Continuing with Una Corda series that we spontaneously recorded last weekend. Una Corda is a unique piano created by David Klavins with such a magical sound!


Nov 19, 2017

Yesterday it was raining and the ripples on puddles inspired this spontaneous improvisation on Una Corda. And today we got the first snow :)

It was a nice escape from all the busy life lately. Haven’t had any chances to record anything because we’ve been so busy filming the music video for my theatrical song. The video shoot went great! It was challenging, yet it was a lot of fun! The song will be released on 16th of December, stay tuned!


Nov 16, 2017

It’s a very special opportunity for me to write this review on Jennifer Thomas’s latest release - 10th anniversary edition of her very first album. I got to know Jennifer few years ago when I read her blog post about her music career becoming a family effort and her main focus. Among other things she wrote about the parenthood and the related challenges to find time to practice piano and compose in between the exhausting days and nights. The original “Key of Sea” album happened just before that period in Jennifer’s life and this story truly resonated with me. So does this special edition of the same album, fully remastered with four bonus tracks.


Nov 1, 2017

“First Light” is an incredible album by Matthew Shell! Very atmospheric, with vivid images, free spirit, rich harmonies and surprising twists. Take a glass of wine with your loved one, close your eyes and it will take you on a journey from the romance of a starry night into the mystery of ancient tribes and back to the stars and above the clouds. You can read my review of this album over here.


Oct 27, 2017

Thank you so much for your incredible support of our campaign!! We must be honest, when we put $5000 as the goal, we didn’t have much expectations of achieving it. Getting to the 50% of it was quite overwhelming!

In just 24 hours we will be heading to the theater and have a whole day filled with fun challenges. We will keep you updated! If you want to follow all kinds of behind-the-scenes photos and updates, you are welcome to join our “The Snow Queen Waltz” group on Facebook.

Milana and Arty
(aka The Snow Queen and her Royal Jester)


Oct 26, 2017

Thank you, Olga Kaspy, for your contribution to our crowdfunding campaign!!

This is the last day to support our theatrical project!


Oct 25, 2017

It’s only three days left till the video shoot, everything is prepared and ready to go! The dance is rehearsed, all the props are in boxes, we only need to pick up the rented decorations tomorrow and we are all set for the Big Day!

You support is absolutely great! The funds that were raised so far will go towards paying for the decorations, as well as to the choreographer and the dancers.

The crowdfunding campaign ends tomorrow. There is still time left to support the project, even by spreading the word about it!

Thank you!


Oct 21, 2017

Thank you, Olga Kozhevnikov, Andrey Perelman and Victor Gashnikov, for supporting our campaign!!


Oct 14, 2017

I’ve always enjoyed how Jeff Torres turned my piano solos into orchestral pieces. This time, wow!! It was something absolutely penetrating. He took my performance of Jennifer Thomas’s “A Beautiful Storm” and turned it into such a cinematic drama! Enjoy the storm!!


Oct 8, 2017

Thank you, Maxim Kuzmenko, Nikolai Lugovskoi and Boris Khavich for supporting our campaign!!


Oct 4, 2017

Thank you so much, Galina Rezaeipour, Irene Loureiro, Claude Bolduc and Sergei K for your contribution to our IndieGoGo campaign!


Oct 3, 2017

After just one week of our IndieGoGo campaign we reached 41% of our goal!! Now, we need your help again in pushing our campaign forward.

The fact that over 30 people decided to back it up and made it reach 41% of the goal in the very first days - it was truly beyond our bravest expectations. We are absolutely stunned and grateful, and it made us believe that together we can really reach the goal!

It’s a true collaborative project and you can see how much effort goes into it and how many people are involved. You can be a part of it by supporting us, sharing our campaign, or even assisting us during the video shoot itself if you live in Ottawa.

Thank you so much!


Sep 28, 2017

Waking up to another exciting morning to see that we almost reached 2 thousands dollars in our crowdfunding campaign in just 2 days! Arty was busy yesterday’s evening designing the Contribution Certificate that goes with one of the perks. I was rehearsing my choreography moves in front of a mirror and rehearsing for my solo concert this weekend. Yes, as if life wasn’t busy enough, I am also performing (and teaching!) :)

I want to take this moment to thank everyone who contributed in one way or another, your support means a lot! We can’t stop smiling :)

Thank you for the donation, Harry Verheijen! Both Arty and I truly love your soundtracks on SoundCloud!

Thank you, Jonny Cooke! It’s always a good portion of laughs coming from you, making every day brighter :)

Thank you, Dima Yasny! We’ve known each other for quite some years, wow!

Thank you, Natasha and Yacov Plotnikov! I am happy to receive a word that you liked my performance this summer!

Thank you so much, Ling He!! Both Arty and I are lost for words!! Thank you so much for your contribution to our project!!

Thank you, Peter Bennborn! It was nice meeting you on SoundCloud and listening to your works, which are always top notch!


Sep 27, 2017

Wow! Your support is overwhelming, guys! In just one day we passed $1k and nearly hit 25% of the goal?! This is incredible! Thank you so much for being with us!

Heartfelt thank you for the latest backers, Anna Lazarev and Luděk Havran!

Thank you for the new backers of “The Snow Queen Waltz” campaign, Jarrod Goldsmith and Nayj Lyrics!

Shout-out to Diana Lloyd, Svetlana Nes and Alex Frenkel for joining the Snow Queen’s Court of Supporters! Thank you, guys!!


Sep 26, 2017

Thank you so much, Diana Volfin, for supporting “The Snow Queen Waltz” on IndieGoGo!!! You are the best friend! :) Diana will get two CDs signed personally by my producer and me!

Thank you so much, Ludmilla Chebotarev and Misha Chebotarev, for supporting our “The Snow Queen Waltz” theatrical video!! Since you are.... parents of my producer :) You’ve got all our CDs already :) Nevertheless! We will send you a personal certificate with both of our signatures, handwritten lyrics of the song and, of course, the credits in the Video!

Thank you very much, Roy Sarkar, for supporting our “The Snow Queen Waltz” campaign!! And congratulations for becoming an official member of Snow Queen’s Court!

Thank you very much, Jennifer Thomas, for supporting “The Snow Queen Waltz”! And welcome to the Snow Queen’s Court as a new Baroness :)) Jennifer is a terrific composer, arranger and performer and a wonderful all around person, who inspire me a lot!! I must say that this whole “The Snow Queen Waltz” music video is all inspired by Jennifer’s music videos. When we saw them, it made us to believe that this is possible to create amazing videos independently, without any major label backing it up. Thank you! And, of course, two CDs or a CD and a sheet music is on us :-)

Thank you so much, dear Oliver Sadie, for your support of our “The Snow Queen Waltz” project, for your friendship and for lots of great memories! :)

Thank you, dear Qi Zhou, for your support! And congratulations for becoming the third Earl in Snow Queen’s Court!

Thank you so much, Bas Kooman, for your support of our “The Snow Queen Waltz” music video!!

We had so much fun together with Roger Chandler this summer! I so appreciate your support, Roger! Thank you for contributing to our “The Snow Queen Waltz”! And congratulations for becoming Snow Queen’s Earl!

Thank you so much, Eddy Timmermans, for your contribution to our “The Snow Queen Waltz”!!

It is so nice to meet new people who appreciate my music. Earlier this year I got to meet Natasha Fagin, who came to my concert in Toronto with her family. Now, half a year later, she became one of the backers of our “The Snow Queen Waltz” video! Thank you for your support, Natasha!!

I had the pleasure of meeting Matthias Andrä in person two years ago. We had much fun improvising and talking about music. I remember being amazed when Matthias showed me what could be recorded using EWI. Thank you very much for your support of “The Snow Queen Waltz” video, dear Matthias!!


Sep 26, 2017

It is LIVE! Our first ever crowdfunding campaign for our first Theatrical Musical Video!

This project involves many people: a voice teacher, live musicians, audio engineers, a choreographer, dancers, a cinematographer - this list can go on. We don’t like people to work for free, so we do pay everyone for the effort they contribute to the project - for now it all comes from our own family budget. So... some help would be MUCH appreciated!

The first days of any crowdfunding campaign are vital, so please share this link with a couple of words about us and our campaign, something like “Our friends are working on a big Art project and they need your support”. If you are one of the participants - it will surely help if you mention that. We are so much grateful for any support we get from you! It really means the world for us! THANK YOU!


Sep 16, 2017

I heard about James Newton Howard’s tour and his contest for finding European singers to accompany him. Well, I *was* European :) but long time ago. So, this is not my audition video, just had fun singing it in my jazzy way. Hope you will enjoy my take on it :-)


Sep 15, 2017

The day of the big videoshoot is approaching! We decided to open a Facebook Group for all “The Snow Queen Waltz” related questions and discussions.

You are not required to be the part of the crew in order to join! The opposite! Anyone is welcome to join, ask questions and share ideas!


Aug 19, 2017

This was yet another challenging piece for me to play, composed by Jennifer Thomas. In fact, I started practicing it some months ago and then got busy with something else :) So, I am quite happy that I finally got around recording it.

Btw, Jennifer is currently recording a music video for this piece of hers, to be released in about a month. So, don’t miss it on her YouTube channel, her videos are amazing and quite inspirational!


Aug 19, 2017

Had fun composing a summery soundtrack for one of clients, this was one of the variants that I can share with you (another one was accepted). The video is just a mock-up composed of clips from VideoBlocks.

On another note, we are advancing at shooting the music video for one of my songs. If everything goes according to the plan, it will be released in December. The first part of the video is recorded, next weeks we are going to rehearse a dance with a choreographer and six dancers - for the second part of the music video.


Aug 3, 2017

Some behind the scenes from the first video shoot with Ben Hoskyn doing the video recording, Evgeniya Selifanova doing the makeup, my son Kyle being the sound assistant and my husband, Artyom Tchebotaryov, directing it all.

Enjoy the process of making a music video! It was a long-long day: we spent 9 hours to shoot 45 minutes of the footage for 1.5 minutes of the script. I can only imagine how challenging it will be in October, when we film the second part - it will be filmed in a theatre with decorations and dancers, and a sax player and so on - there will be 20-25 people involved.


Jul 15, 2017

Today we celebrate 9 years since we landed in Canada - a good reason to celebrate and... to contemplate :) So, I hope you will enjoy listening to this contemplative collaboration with Roger Chandler that we recorded a couple of weeks ago.

I appreciate it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel ;-)


Jul 9, 2017

All of a sudden singing on a brand new composed poem by my husband... Brings out all the amazing possibilities of our own instruments - Voice... Soulful, fragile, deep...

I’m not sure what I wanted to say. Between composing, recording and happy summer time with my family, I’m enjoying being myself, realizing my dreams from smallest steps to free flight mode :-)

Can’t thank you enough, great friends and family members.

We have another great composer, my son, my husband too, lyrics and songs are often co-written with my daughter.

The only thing is time, my daily projects are so busy and time consuming...warm ups alone take almost 2 hours, not including vocal journeys.

So I’m thinking maybe I should aim for creating daily or weekly short vlogs, otherwise I can’t remember or feel the progress.

Dare myself to get into done.

Now :-)


Jul 8, 2017

Happy Saturday Morning! I hope you will enjoy this blues standard performed by truly yours in collaboration with Roger Chandler. Appreciate your shares and subscription to my YouTube channel :-)


Jul 3, 2017

It was a fun day yesterday and the best is yet to come today! Roger Chandler visited our studio and we made several live recordings. Enjoy “Bird blues” :) More recordings to be uploaded in the upcoming weeks!


Jun 17, 2017

It’s been such a honor for me to have a wonderful choir singing my song. Heartfelt thank you Jessica, Diyara, Emily, Robert and Mark! And, of course, thank you very much, Diana Lloyd for all the guidance and vocal layers you have added to my song!


Jun 9, 2017

I always love listening to compositions of Jackie Perks, this one is one of the pieces that instantly became one of my favorites. I hope you will enjoy my performance of Jackie’s “Romance”

I hope you will enjoy my performance of her “Raindrop Fantasia”.


Jun 3, 2017

It’s always such an amazing experience to hear how my piano solos expand into orchestral beauties! Thank you, Jeff Torres!


May 26, 2017

There is no love story that is unique, yet no love story is the same. My love happened to be deeply intertwined with music and with my husband. When he asked me to improvise different feelings on my piano, I didn’t think it would end up as a story of our life: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and...

LOVE! The twelfth, concluding track from my new album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music. I let my piano play and it sang me this song, jazzy and romantic, swinging and rocking, lush harmonies and memorable motifs.

Don’t miss the second part of the video! We shared the story of how this album came to life :) If you have difficulties understanding our accents, just turn on the subtitles :)

We would also like to ask for your support! We plan to shoot a professional music video this year, which would be a rather expensive project to pull, paying from our own pockets. You can help funding it by purchasing an album on BandCamp. Thank you!


May 19, 2017

Summer nights were hot, long and fruitful. She couldn’t get enough of her piano, playing old songs, composing new ones. He was busy learning how to record what she was playing for him and with him.

Her first song was born one of those nights... “It’s about time” was its name and it was about time for them to finally share something together.... One journey, one life, one love.... It was wonderful to regain back what was lost before - the feel of...

TRUST... The eleventh track track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


May 12, 2017

New Spring brought warmth and colors... Memories of the first years together showed back, gaining strength, overpowering the turmoil.

She was changing her list of Rights and Wrongs, Shoulds and Shouldn’ts. Her abandoned piano got to feel her touch again, shy and timid, raging and hopeful. Through those keys she was discovering back her whole self.

He was building a treehouse on their backyard, on a blue spruce tree... hammering hundreds of nails through its branches, hurting his hands with its needles... but healing through this cathartic zen of...

CONTEMPLATION... The tenth track track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


May 5, 2017

It was the longest winter of their life... That March some years ago was cold and gray... so were their thoughts and feelings... Days passed by, leaving no memories, no joy, no happiness... Icicles of hurtful words played the melody of...

SADNESS... The ninth track track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Apr 28, 2017

He did too much, though, not what she wanted. She did not do enough, though, she could not see it. Disgust and anger left nothing but devastation behind. For what they’ve done, the only feeling they could share now was...

GUILT... The eighth track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Apr 21, 2017

She was thinking that breaking habits is a cleansing experience. He was literally breaking everything that was within the reach of his hands.

They both had it all wrong for a while. It was furious and raw, while their love was boiling with...

ANGER... The seventh track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Apr 15, 2017

How would you express “disgust” in music? This was the most controversial track of my album. I didn’t like it at first myself but the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me. When the words were finally spoken out, what once was only a fear turned real. How could he say it?! How could he do it?! All she could feel was utter...

DISGUST.... The sixth track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Apr 14, 2017

So, I decided not to publish the next track from my album today, as it feels awkward to post “Disgust” on my birthday :)

Instead, enjoy this live version “Out of the dark” that we recorded together with Roger Chandler.


Apr 9, 2017

I just have to share this gem of an orchestration by Jeff Torres! He turned my piano piece into such a cinematic and extremely poignant soundtrack.


Apr 9, 2017

It was so much fun and I hope you will enjoy this version of my “Moonlight Stroll” that we recorded yesterday together with Roger Chandler!


Apr 7, 2017

As there is no light without darkness, so, is no love without despair. He was busy at work and with his own projects. She was exhausted with her own home business. What was once connected turned into parallel lives under the same roof.

She was afraid to talk about her real feelings. Everything she said sounded like complains to him. Anticipation of love turned into the anticipation of loss. What was joyful before turned into...

FEAR.... The fifth track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Apr 2, 2017

I’ve been wanting to play one of Jackie Perks’s compositions for some time, they are full of wondrous drama and passion.

I hope you will enjoy my performance of her “Raindrop Fantasia”.


Mar 31, 2017

I am so honored and delighted to get this review for my new album “Yet Another Love Story”, thank you, Kathy Parsons!

The album became one of Kathy’s picks and “a strong contender for one of Favorite albums of the year”. Wow!


Mar 31, 2017

They became parents and with the parenthood came doubts and concerns. Could they still find time for each other? Could they be both parents and lovers? Should she find a job or stay at home with a baby? Could they stay where they lived or it was time to move on?

Life was still full of anticipation, surprises, joy... But now the part of it turned into...

DOUBT...The fourth track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Mar 28, 2017

NEW RELEASE “Yet Another Love Story” is OUT!

To celebrate the Piano Day​ and 15 years of the story of my love and life, this album tells the musical story, step by step, chapter by chapter. You can get it on iTunes, Amazon MP3, BandCamp or stream it on Spotify.


Mar 28, 2017

Enjoy the insight into one of the remote recording sessions I had recently. Dirk Radloff asked me to record the piano for one of the tracks on his upcoming album.


Mar 24, 2017

They moved to live together in a small cozy apartment at the middle of a green park. For both of them it was the first time of living together with someone. With all the joys and...well, compromises one needs to make.

After a year they decided that they are ready for the next step. So, they had a wonderful wedding in one of the most romantic cities of all times: the beautiful Prague.

Two months later...they got another wedding! And it was in...“Prague”!

Well, the second time it was the name of a restaurant... but who cares? :-)

Nine months later...

JOY! The third track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Mar 17, 2017

They met a few times before but it wasn’t their time just yet. One late evening, back in 2002, they happened to chat online and at some point he asked her “Why are we chatting online if I can drive and be at your place in less than an hour?”

So he did, and they had a wonderful conversation in a park. The weather was warm and stars were shining above. When he walked her to her house, just before saying “bye”, he took and held her hand a heartbeat longer than she expected.

Two weeks later he proposed to her!

SURPRISE! The second track from my upcoming album “Yet Another Love Story”, telling the story of my love and music: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.


Mar 10, 2017

There is no love story that is unique, yet no love story is the same. My love happened to be deeply intertwined with music and with my husband. When he asked me to improvise different feelings on my piano, I didn’t think it would end up as a story of our life: from the anticipation of the first date, from the surprise and joy of new relations to the moments of doubt and fear, disgust and anger, followed by guilt, sadness and contemplation. But above all it always comes down to trust and love.

I let my piano play and it sang me this song, jazzy and romantic, swinging and rocking, lush harmonies and memorable motifs. Starting today, I will post videos of each track every week, unveiling this love story chapter by chapter.

From me to you,
into eternal story,
with love in every note I play.
Milana.


Feb 24, 2017

How your days are going? I know I’ve been quite since the beginning of the year, it’s just so many things are going at once that I am struggling to follow: performing, having remote session recording requests, recording a new album, arranging and recording a new song, teaching too. Anyways, here is the video recording from the concert I performed at Infiniti Strings Performance Arts Centre in Markham (Ontario) back in January.


Feb 4, 2017

It’s been a busy start of the year: a concert in Markham (Ontario), a video shoot, students, recording sessions - I didn’t have much time to record or compose anything new. Here is a new composition from me, kind of a test-drive of NATIVE INSTRUMENTS’s “Discovery Series - India”. The video is composed from free clips found on pixabay.com. I hope you will enjoy this Indian flavored track.



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