I was born in a suburb of St. Petersburg, Russia. I spent most of my early childhood with my grandmother Miriam who is a Holocaust survivor. She influenced me a great deal. I learned to be very strong and courageous from her stories about the war, the camps, and how she fought for her life and wouldn't give up. When I was 5 years old, my kindergarten music teacher convinced my Mom that I was very gifted in music and it would be a big waste if she failed to give me a good music education. The teacher even offered free lessons in order to prepare me for every serious music school.

   At the age of 6 I was accepted to a Music Academy where I spent the next 9 years of my life. My major was piano, which required endless hours of practice. I also studied voice, music theory, music literature, harmony, art, and so on.

   In 1989 I graduated and went off to college to pursue my BA in music. By that time, I knew that my passion for singing was far greater than the one for piano. My piano recitals and exams made me so nervous, but singing was natural for me and I experienced very little stage fright. To a great dissapointment of my Mom I chose my major to be voice and choir conducting.

    The four years of college were probably the happiest in my life, I literally lived there, and often I would find myself in a practice room at 6 am...Many times, usually around mid-terms or exams, my friends and I would spend nights there practicing and getting together for coffee every 2-3 hours. My voice teacher infected me with a love for opera and my favorite singer was Maria Callas -my teacher and I listened to her records over and over. We would travel to see opera or operetta to Moscow and St. Petersburg, it was always so exciting. When I graduated it was kinda funny to teach music in elementary school after years of studying such serious music, but it was a more realistic way to make a living than pursue a career in opera.

   I was experiencing some very difficult times in my life, when I turned to my roots and discovered incredible spiritual depth in Judaism and found comfort in G-d. I am fascinated with the richness and beauty of Jewish tradition that preserved us as a people through thousands of years of persecution and struggle. I am absolutely in love with Jewish music, it gives me such joy and hope, it also tells the history of my people, so I dreamed for many years to record these old songs in a more contemporary style so younger people and even teenagers and children would be attracted to this music. Thanks to Amin and Bobby B...my dream came true.