Biography
Dr. Tatiana Shustova was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where she studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music School and the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory. She also participated in piano and chamber music master classes at the Music Hochschule in Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration with New York’s Juilliard School.
Tatiana completed the Artist’s Certificate Program and a Master’s degree in piano performance at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She studied with Maxim Mogilevsky and Robert Satterlee and won first prize in the 40th annual Concerto Competition.
In 2008, she was awarded a fellowship to enter the doctoral program in piano performance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance under the direction Dr. Ian Hobson in spring 2013.
Tatiana has appeared at festivals in the United States such as the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, Illinois Summer Youth Music, the Bowling Green Music Institute, and the Toradze Piano Institute. In Europe: the Ionian Summer Music academy, Corfu, Greece; Les Orres International summer academy, Embrun, France; Suomussalmi Music Festival, Suomussalmi, Finland; and Musica Atri, Atri and Scuola Italia, Urbania, Italy. Tatiana has received numerous awards in solo and chamber music competitions in Italy and Russia and has played many concerts in Europe. At the competition Musica Atri (2004), she received 1st place along with an invitation to play concerts and the opportunity to participate in master classes with Eugenie Mogilevsky, professor at the Brussels Conservatory.
During the summer of 2010, Tatiana was appointed as a vocal coach at the Scuola Italia program (Urbania, Italy). During the same year, Tatiana and her husband Aaron Jacobs (violin) received second prize at the international music competition Premio Alberto Gori. In October 2011, Tatiana and Aaron where invited to perform works by Liszt in the Liszt-Garrison Festival and Competition and won an award for their performance of "String Poetic" by Jennifer Higdon.In November 2012 Tatiana received First Place in the American Protege International Romantic Music Competition and had her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall Debut. In March 2013 Tatiana had a solo recital at the Krannert Center for the Arts at Urbana, Illinois for annual 21st century piano commission award.
Tatiana is currently an adjunct music faculty member at Millikin University School of Music, and she is an accompanist for School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, she is a president of World Piano Teachers Association Illinois Chapter. Tatiana mentors an independent piano studio in Savoy, Illinois where she resides with her husband and two sons, and is Artistic Director of the Chambana International Music Competition, which will be happening 8th time this year. In 2023 , Tatiana was invited to present and perform for her research on Rachmaninoff’s Compositional Styles for the International Russian Music Institute Conference at the Orfeo Festival in Vipiteno, Italy as well as for Illinois State Music Teachers Association Conference in Chicago , Illinois . In January 2024 Tatiana released her debut CD with Centaur Records of piano pieces by Prokofiev, Op. 75 “ Romeo and Juliette” and Sibelius, Op. 75 “ The Trees”. The recording got a Silver Medal for outstanding achievement in classical music category from Global Music Awards.
