Teacher
Michael Bulychev-Okser is a piano teacher with over 22 years of expertise, educating students of graduate and undergraduate levels and young adults of various ages. His teaching success manifested itself with several Pre-College students obtaining highest scores at NYSSMA, ABRSM, and entrance exams to major conservatories. Michael Bulychev-Okser graduated many successful pianists, many of whom won top prizes at Paderewski, George Gershwin, and Steinway & Sons competitions and performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, La Salle Pleyel among other venues.
An alumnus of The Juilliard School, Michael Bulychev-Okser joined the piano faculty at the Steinhardt School of Education (New York University) in 2003, where he taught applied piano lessons to music majors and two-year sequence of collaborative piano to non-piano majors. His seven-year tenure at Long Island Conservatory (2002-2009) allowed him to gain insight into the musical development/aptitude of students of varying degrees of interest and ability. While at Long Island Conservatory, Michael Bulychev-Okser taught Piano, Keyboard Harmony, and Theory/Counterpoint to graduate, undergraduate and pre-college students. Since 2014, Michael Bulychev-Okser has been teaching piano and various subjects as a Graduate Assistant Faculty at Rutgers University.
In addition to the extensive teaching background, Michael Bulychev-Okser maintain an active performance and outreach activity, teaching master classes at numerous festivals and conservatories (Monterrey University in Mexico, Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Israel, Conservatorio Municipal "José Iturbi" in Valencia, and Central Conservatory in China among others), adjudicating international competitions (including MozArte in Germany and Scriabin Competition in Grosetto, Italy), participating in conferences, and appearing in solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts in the United States, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, China, Singapore, South Korea, Serbia, Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Greece, Israel, and Egypt.
An avid chamber musician, Michael Bulychev-Okser has coached various ensembles, giving collaborative master classes in Tallinn, Estonia and at the Mokwon University at Daejeon, South Korea.
Michael Bulychev-Okser has produced a number of scholarly articles, including “Paderewsky: the golden lion of the piano”, in The Juilliard Journal, collaborating with David Dubal. Peer reviewed articles on Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata followed in 2010 and 2016 respectively. At the present time, Michael Bulychev-Okser is working on the book “Conversations with Students”, which outlines a progressive method of teaching piano, based on associative thinking with a help of cue questions. This unique method triggers student’s imagination, and invites own independent thinking, which is crucially important in forming one’s artistic personality.
Piano Master Classes taught
Gümüşlük International Music Festival – Gümüşlük, Turkey, July 2024
Gvadalajara International Piano Festival - Gvadalajara, Mexico, June 2024
X Classical Hugs International Music Festival, Tallinn, Estonia, July-August 2024
Talent Music Masters festival, Brescia, Italy – August 2023
6th Chieti International Piano Festival, Italy - July 2023
Roman School at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. – August 2022
Chopin University, Poland – July 2022
Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, United Kingdom – January 2021
Lucy Moses School at Kaufmann Music Center, New York, USA – February 2020
IV George Gershwin International Music Competition, New York, USA – Nov. 2019
Todi International Music Festival: Todi, Italy – August 2019
Latvian Academy of Music: Riga, Latvia – July 2019
II Changsha International Music Competition: Changsha, China – October 2018
Alion Baltic International Music Festival: Tallinn, Estonia – August 2018
VIPA International Music Festival: Valencia, Spain – July 2018
Piano Island Festival: Singapore – January 2018
Festival Internacional y Masterclass: Universidad de Nuevo Leon Mexico – Sept. 2017
Ars Nova Academia Musicale: Colleferro, Italy – May 2017
Tbilisi State Conservatory: Tbilisi, Georgia – June 2016
Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University: Tel-Aviv, Israel – June 2016
SUMY International Music Festival: SUMY City, Ukraine – December, 2015
Mogon University: Daejeon, South Korea – December 2005-February 2006
Chamber Music Masterclasses
Alion Baltic International Music Festival: Tallinn, Estonia – August 2017
Mogon University: Daejeon, South Korea – December 2005-February 2006
Jury Member
June 26, 2024
Guadalajara International Music Competition
Guadalajara, Mexico
June 13-16, 2024
MusicArte International Music Competition
Tricase, Italy
July 2023
Chieti Music Competition and Festival
Chieti, Italy
June 8-12, 2022
The V George Gershwin International Music Competition
New York, USA
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
February 1-10, 2022
VI Piano Competition "City of Vigo"
Vigo, Spain
March 2020 & 2023
Chopin International Piano Competitions
Hartford, Connecticut, USA
February 2020
XVI Piano Concerto Competition,
New York University, New York, USA
November 7-10, 2019
The IV George Gershwin International Music Competition
New York, USA
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
September 9-13, 2019
XV MozArte Piano Competition
Aachen, Germany
Jury Member/ Guest Artist
August 31, 2019
The IV Alion Baltic Music Competition
Riga Latvian Academy, Riga, Latvia
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
July 2-6, 2019
XI Lyon International Piano Competition
Lyon, France
May 3-5, 2019
The IV Paderewski International Competition
Farmington, Connecticut, USA
Jury Member
October 3-6, 2018
II Changsha International Piano Competition
Changsha, Hainan, China
Jury Member / Artistic Advisor
July 6-12, 2018
Concours International Piano Val de Travers
Val de Travers, Switzerland
Jury Member
March 11, 2018
Baroque Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition
The College of Saint Elizabeth - Morristown, New Jersey
Jury Member
February 18-25, 2018
XX Scriabin International Piano Competition,
Grosetto, Italy
Jury Member
January 6-12, 2018
I Piano Island Festival and Competition
Singapore
Jury Member
October 27 - November 5, 2017
The III George Gershwin International Music Competition
Brooklyn-Manhattan, New York, USA
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
May 3-5, 2017
The II Paderewski International Competition
Farmington, Connecticut, USA
Jury Member
December 3 - 9, 2016
Muzička škola "Isidor Bajić".
The 8th Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial International Competition
Jury Member
June 3-7, 2016
The II Clairmont Piano Competition
The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jury Member
November 9-14, 2015
XVI Compositores de España International Piano Competition
Madrid, Spain
Jury Member
April 27 - May 3, 2015
The II George Gershwin International Music Competition
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
December 2013
The I George Gershwin International Music Competition
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Founder/Artistic Director - Jury Chairman
