Classical pianist Irina Nuzova was 20 years old when she and her family fled the anti-Semitism then gripping her native Russia. Her family settled in South Orange, but life became difficult in new ways. Nuzova loved to play piano, but here she practiced on an old, upright piano—hardly acceptable for an accomplished artist who debuted with the Omsk Philharmonic in Russia at age 14.
Then two Garden State families came into her life. “They were just very warm and welcoming, and I still keep in touch with them,” she says. Sheila and Edward Appel, members of the Oheb Shalom Congregation of South Orange, arranged for Nuzova to practice on the temple’s gorgeous Yamaha. And the Revesz family of Cedar Grove invited Nuzova and her family to join them in celebrating Passover—establishing a new tradition that added to Nuzova’s sense of belonging in her new home.
Now 38, Nuzova lives in New York City with her husband and two children. This month, she and cellist Wendy Warner will release Russian Music for Cello & Piano, featuring a sonata by Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky that has never before been recorded on American soil. The pair will embark on a CD release tour this fall and will record live in Chicago.
Nuzova also performs as a soloist. After more than three decades, she has not lost the thrill of playing, or even just practicing. “Sometimes I can’t believe that these are my hands and that they can do this,” she says.