By Dan Aznoff, Special to JTNews
Growing up in the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, Miriam Bogoslavsky spent her childhood at the keys of her beloved piano. She hoped the music could somehow drown out the sights and sounds of oppression.
Today, she is free to watch the sunshine that pours into her home on the Sammamish Plateau. She enjoys the spectacle of the light as it reflects off the polished wood of her grand piano. which dominates the living room.
Students from her music academy have been honored with some the most prestigious awards available in this area.
“Helping young people achieve what I could not has become the focus of my life,” she says. “Giving is a joy that I treasure every day.”
Bogoslavsky spends her afternoons teaching piano to young people across the Eastside, yet she often wonders how many others still suffer the blight of tyranny that dominated the first half of her life.
Miriam’s parents knew they could improve life for their daughter by allowing her to pursue her passion for the arts. Talented individuals in music and dance were often given special privileges under the Communist regime.
Her talent earned her the privilege of traveling across the USSR for four years as a featured artist with the Moldavian Symphony Orchestra. She also performed with selected violinists and cello players with the state orchestra.
The young pianist’s rise in recognition came to an abrupt halt at a young age, however, when Bogoslavsky competed against musicians from other the Soviet states. Despite her apparent talent, she was never acknowledged beyond an occasional recognition for honorable mention. She says being Jewish held her back.
“We were told that the only way to get ahead was to change our names and deny our faith,” she says. “I was not willing to give up my heritage in the name of politics.
“Being Jewish means far more to me than just my last name.”
Yet one of the highest honors Bogoslavsky received as a young Jewish performer was an award for third place in a competition held to honor the late Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin,
“My parents were told that the state made it certain that a Jewish pianist could not win,” she recalls. “The same was true for Jewish dancers who hoped to dance with the ballet. The government did not want to acknowledge that a Jewish person could be the best at anything.”
According to Bogoslavsky, the same fate was true for Jews who hoped to become doctors. She says Jewish youth were allowed to enter the schools of engineering or agriculture, but admission into the top schools in science and the arts each year were limited to one or two students each year.
“The Soviets denied themselves of many of the best and brightest minds because they continued to preach the policies of Stalin and Lenin,” Bogoslavsky says. “Jewish people who were lucky enough to get visas [to leave the country] were forced to repay the government for the cost of their education.”
Bogoslavsky’s parents still tried to instill the best of education in their children, however. Books from the West were an especially cherished item in her home. Bogoslavsky remembers her mother treasuring an old, worn copy of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises as if it were the Torah itself.
“The stores had as many copies as you wanted of writings by Lenin and Marx, but writers from the West were forbidden,” she says. “Except those authors who questioned the American way of life. Even the Russian novel Dr. Zhivago was almost impossible to find, except on the black market.”
Peace talks between American President Jimmy Carter and Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev eased tension between the two world powers. As a result, immigration became more available — though not easier — to numerous minorities in the old Soviet Union.
The day after her parents applied for an exit visa, the state removed the Bogoslavsky family from their home and terminated her father’s employment as a master tailor. They were forced to live with friends and relatives for more than a year before finally being permitted to leave.
Yet they never had a true idea of what kind of life they would have once they left the Soviet Union.
“The state-controlled television in Russia gave us a very different picture of what America was really like,” she recalled. “The only television we saw of America were of riots in the streets, fires, people killing each other and long lines of people waiting to buy food.”
Before coming to the United States, Bogoslavsky first moved to Israel with her brother, her parents and her three-year-old son in 1976. The striking dark-haired pianist quickly became a recognized figure in Israeli music, working at conservatories in Tel Aviv and Haifa, while providing accompaniment for the state opera and selected soloists.
While living in Israel, the Russian immigrant earned a second Master’s degree in music and won the prestigious National Competition for Young Talents.
Her younger brother Ariel, who is also a talented piano player, was recruited to move to the United States to play in nightclubs in Houston and Dallas. The family followed him, first to Pennsylvania and eventually to Texas. Today, Ariel is a featured performer at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Miriam performed at an eclectic variety of venues while living in Texas, ranging from a benefit show for Hadassah to a gig at the piano lounge downtown in Houston.
The classically trained pianist adjusted well to her adopted homeland.
In the five years since moving from Texas to Sammamish, Bogoslavsky says life has never been better. This single mother provides piano lessons and inspiration for more than 30 students. She limits enrollment in her academy to students who are dedicated to music and willing to commit the time required to take full advantage of their individual talent.
Her impact on classical music in the area has been dramatic. She proudly displays CDs made by her students, given to their teacher as a small token of appreciation.
The class schedule at the Miriam Bogoslavsky Piano Studio is now in such high demand that the only time available for the namesake’s two teenage sons to practice the piano is on the weekends. Her son Matthew is a junior at Eastlake High School, while her youngest, Daniel, is 14-year-old 9th grader at Inglewood Junior High on the Sammamish Plateau.
Her eldest son, Roman, is now 31. He lives in Dallas with his wife and son, who just turned three. Miriam’s family room is filled with pictures of her grandson.
“This is why I moved [here],” Bogoslavsky says. “Every one of my students can take their music just as far as their own talent will allow. Nobody will stop them because of who they are or what they believe. That is America.”
Miriam Bogoslavsky will perform publicly for the first time in eight years as part of a benefit concert for Temple B’nai Torah on Feb. 7, 2004. Ticket information is available at www.TempleBnaiTorah.org or 425-603-9677.