Yuri L. TakeLessons Instructor music, classical guitar, guitar New York, NY

    Guitarist Yuri is an extraordinary new talent gaining recognition by professionals, critics and audiences around the world. At only 25, Yuri already holds a Masters of Music degree from the Yale University, where he studied with Professor Benjamin Verdery. In addition Yuri holds a Graduate Performance Diploma and Bachelor's degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied on a full scholarship under the tutelage of world-renowned guitarist Manuel Barrueco.

    Yuri was born in 1982 in the city of Novosibirsk, Russia where he started to play classical guitar at the age of 6. In 1993 he moved to Israel where he continued his studies with guitarist and composer Yaron Hasson and in 2000 he went to the USA to continue his studies.

    Yuri has been on the stages of many venues in the Middle East, Europe and America for recitals, festivals and competitions. Latest performances include reciatls inside the Empire State building in New York, Yale Sprague Memorial Hall and many others. In 2005, he was a prize winner at the Appalachian Guitar Competition in North Carolina. He has twice been a prize winner at the Ariane Yerushalmi Eldor Classical Guitar Competition of the Jerusalem Academy of Music (1996-1997), and remains the youngest prizewinner in its history. Since 1996, Yuri has been continuously awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation including a grant for the purchase of a new instrument.

    He has appeared on radio, television, and in the written press. Some of these appearances include features on the Voice of America International Radio Station, WBJC Classical music Radio Staton of Baltimore, Kol HaMusica Classical Music national radio station of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Newspaper Vesti (Israel), and WDR German Television Network.

    Yuri has participated in an impressive number of master classes with such established artists as Odair Assad, Paul O'Dette, Marco Socias, Ruben Sarousi, David Tanenbaum, Julian Gray, Ray Chester, Marina Piccinini, Ransom Wilson, Anthony Newmann, Joan Panetti and Manuel Barrueco. Along with his expanding solo performances and extensive chamber music appearances, he maintains an active teaching career.

 I believe that having a strong technique is fundamental to becoming proficient on any instrument, and guitar is not an exception to this rule. Due to the fact that modern classical guitar pedagogy is in its infancy state, there is still a lot of confusion regarding the best way of holding and using our hands, in addition to a general lack of knowledge about good posture and the hand muscles themselves. Very often I see advanced players who fail to use their hands in an optimal manner to achieve certain tasks. There are a lot of nuances in every person’s technique that only a professional can notice and correct.

 Besides technique, I teach elements of theory, ear training, phrasing and other necessary skills that are important to any musician no matter what instrument they play. I strongly urge my students to practice reading music notation instead of tablature simply because musical notation can provide much more details.

 If you truly want to improve your mastery of the guitar or simply want excellent technical and musical information on any level, I can offer the best training possible.  

Traditional classical guitar, Suzuki guitar method

music, classical guitar, guitar