About Marina Surgan

 

Marina Surgan is the Principal Pianist and Manager of Musicians for Canada's National Ballet School.

Marina is a gifted pianist and teacher. She was classically trained in the former Soviet Union, first at the renowned Music School for Gifted Children, named after Professor Stolyarsky, in Odessa Ukraine and then continued her education at Moscow's Gnessin Pedagogical Institute. She is a trained soloist, concertmaster and piano teacher. Marina immigrated to Toronto Canada in 1975 and joined Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) in 1978. Highlights of her creative career include composing music for the Cecchetti grade examinations, recording music for the Prix de Lausanne, conducting accompanist workshops and playing for master classes.

Through her work at NBS, she has travelled across Canada, the United States, Mexico, France, Japan, Finland and Sweden. Marina has given numerous concert performances and in 2006, she recorded her first CD titled "Marina Surgan – Live," which includes 51 piano pieces suitable for ballet classes of all ages and levels.  Her second CD titled "20 Greatest Classical Variations" was recorded in 2007, and was followed by a third CD, "Marina Surgan – Live 2." Marina also publishes the piano sheet music for ballet class directly transcribed from her music albums, and in 2010, her original music compositions were used for an episode of the reality TV show, "Battle of the Blades."