Since her first lecture at Juilliard in 2012, Adrienne Sirken has become a regular and essential component of our Graduate Piano Seminar. With her vast experience as performer, teacher, auditor and administrator, she provides an essential new perspective for the current generation of young musicians. Brimming with insightful observations and fortified by thorough research, she is the best resource I know for helping professional-track performers find relevance in a rapidly changing market.

Julian Martin
Piano Faculty, The Juilliard School

Adrienne Sirken is a guiding lighthouse in the stormy seas of careers and lives in music. Whether I go to her for a pianistic question of a technical nature (how to negotiate leaps, fingerings for a passage), a more general one (how to understand a score or the deeper meaning of a work), career advice, teaching tips, or life wisdom, she is unfailing in the absolute honesty and depth of her insights, which time and again have transformed my life in the most powerful ways.

Adrienne Sirken is one of my favorite human beings. She radiates joy, a true passion for life, infinite curiosity, and an inexhaustible commitment to anything she does. She is a consummate musician, teacher, consultant, and manager, and coach, possessing all of those elusive qualities that define great intelligence, creativity, and wisdom.

Her questing and probing spirit inspires all around her and the breadth of scope she brings to anything she does is truly astonishing. She comes from a family of artists and the world of art, in all of its manifestations, runs deep in her veins. Her diverse and impressive musical background, made up of influences stemming from some of the most important pianistic schools of the century (Ylda Novik, Leonard Shure, Leon Fleisher, Edna Golandsky), her genuine kindness, deep sensitivity, and broad frames of reference, all make for a truly powerful combination that is very rare to find in these times.

Thanks to Adrienne’s presence in my life, I’m not only a better teacher, pianist, musician, and artist, but also, and maybe more importantly, a better person. Anything I would say to recommend her would only scratch the surface of the immensity of her charisma.

Josu de Solaun
Internationally Renowned Concert Pianist, Enesco and Iturbi Competition 1st Prize Winner; NAXOS Artist

Adrienne is a dear friend and colleague with whom I have worked closely for more than ten years. We have together closely on numerous concert and recording projects. She is a gifted presenter, manager, and highly-recommended teacher with a unique combination of abilities and experience. A warm, sensitive, and compassionate individual with an extensive background as a musician, she is also very creative, pragmatic, and rational in her approach to developing complex ideas. She has an unusual ability to hear and understand the people she works with, offering powerful insight, knowledge, and inspiration. I have often relied on discussions with Adrienne to make the best and most important decisions in my professional life.

Ilya Itin
Concert Pianist, Leeds Gold Medalist, Piano Faculty Musashino Academy of Music, Tokyo

Adrienne Sirken is one of the most thoughtful musicians I have ever met. I am always eager to know her opinion and discerning judgement about a performance, whether it is mine or that of any other musician. Her laser-like critical acumen is of the kind that builds and not destroys, and it has been forged under the most varied and incredible influences, from Leon Fleisher to Edna Golandsky. She empowers everyone who is lucky to fall under her charismatic influence, and her playing is characterized by a phenomenal musicianship and a special sensitivity to phrasing and tone production. As a teacher, she can truly find the best in all, and her methods are an example of a student-centered approach coupled with years of experience and tremendous technical knowledge of the instrument and its intricacies. She is also the conveyor of very noble musical traditions, plus a very kind and honest person, who will never let you down, and will help when you are fighting a battle.

Her knowledge of all of the arts and their connection to music makes her judgement a very valuable and important one. I would recommend her without hesitation. In her capacity as Director of the Golandsky Institute International Piano Festival at Princeton University, she has shown throughout the years an amazing ability for arts administration, cultural management, and for the careful selection of artists with a message and personality. Adrienne Sirken makes the classical musical world all the more rich by her presence and contributions. I will always seek out her instinct, knowledge, and advice, for the rest of my life.

Anna Petrova
Concert Pianist, Piano Faculty, Sam Houston University; International Piano Competition Winner

Adrienne Sirken is an insightful musician and a patient, caring teacher who comprehends the power of music. She is a professional, dedicated to teaching healthy, piano technique that gives students the ability to play effortlessly, with a rich sound palette and with intelligent, artful self-expression.

I am a conservatory trained, active collaborative pianist and I have a private teaching studio. My work with Adrienne began about three years ago when I started re-training in the Taubman technique. During this short time, I have grown more as a musician than during my time in conservatory. With Adrienne’s help, my tone palette has grown, and I am learning what truly effortless playing feels like. Her informative, supportive teaching and her knowledge of the Taubman approach has made me a better pianist and a better teacher as well.

Anna Maria Marzullo
Pianist, Piano Faculty, Lafayette University

I have been taking lessons with Adrienne for the past three years. We initially worked on pieces I had been learning by myself; Adrienne patiently helped me get rid of my worst bad habits and introduced me to some key ideas from Taubman along the way. Soon, however, I decided it was worth it to fully retrain in the Taubman approach. It has been a wonderful experience. The process is still ongoing, but I have already reached an entirely new level of comfort, which is allowing me to play pieces that previously were beyond my reach at a technical level, as well as experience an entirely new level of control over my articulation and sound. Absorbing the Taubman mindset has even had a positive influence on my tennis playing! Adrienne has been an incredibly effective teacher, and her cheerful personality and openness to working around my busy and sometimes irregular work schedule has allowed me to keep making continuous progress at my own pace. I look forward to working with her for many years to come!

Harmen Bussemaker
Professor Biological Sciences, Columbia University; Avid Amateur Musician