Masha Pisarenko

Sam Morris

Masha Pisarenko began playing the piano at age 5 in a small town in Siberia. She performed extensively in several countries before coming to the United States. She one day would like to teach.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Monday, Feb. 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Masha Pisarenko, pianist

Age: 29

Education: The Central Music School of Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory; Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music, Russian Academy of Music (Gnesin).

Learning piano: Born in the small Siberian town of Angarsk, Pisarenko began to study piano when she was 5. She was inspired by her grandmother, a history teacher, who bought Pisarenko her first piano and took her to music school. Her mother, an economist, taught her discipline. Her father, an architect, introduced her to arts and culture.

At 12 she entered a Tchaikovsky Youth Competition in Moscow and met musicians from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she eventually studied. She graduated at age 18, before heading to the Russian Academy of Music.

Off to Vegas: Pisarenko performed solos, concertos and competitions throughout Russia, France, Italy, England and Ukraine before leaving Russia for the United States in search of something new. She landed in Los Angeles, a city she knew only through movies, and found a disconnect between the silver screen and the daily grind. “Hollywood is very powerful. The movies and real life are totally separate things. In the movies, everybody is happy and driving nice cars and everything is so inspired. In Europe, you think of America as some sort of heaven on Earth.”

Renting a room in Los Angeles wasn’t as dreamy as it might have seemed. Pisarenko left Los Angeles for Reno, then Las Vegas, where she worked at JCPenney. After a year of getting settled, she returned to piano. She lives with her husband, lawyer Alan Buttell, and has a son, Mark.

Doing in Vegas: She’s a member of Mechta Trio, a chamber ensemble that has been playing recital halls, community centers, churches, living room gigs, the Liberace Museum — just about anywhere it can find an audience. In addition to Pisarenko, Mechta Trio includes Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev, a violinist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and Elena Kapustina, a cellist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Its diverse repertoire includes piano trios by Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Mozart.

Pisarenko performed Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” with the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society in November and will perform again with the orchestra in May.

She is currently preparing for solo performances and competitions and working on her master’s degree in music at UNLV.

She would like to teach.

Las Vegas arts? “I like serious museums. But this is a young place. You can’t expect more. Other places — Paris, England — have hundreds of years of history.”

Classical music in Las Vegas? “It could be more supported.”

Other interests: Attending opera and ballet, visiting museums.

Sticking around? “Yeah. It’s not bad if you find yourself. Every place will be good if you find yourself.”