World Jewish News

An unusual memorial evening took place in the Theatre Art Centre in Penza.

An unusual memorial evening was held in the "House of V.E. Meierhold" Theatre Art Centre in Penza. It was jointly organized by the "Aticva" Centre of Jewish religion and culture, Arkhangelskiy memorial musical college, and the Theatre Art Centre (better known in the town as the House-Museum of Vsevolod Meierhold). The event was held in memory of Raissa Zimring (1915-1992), a pedagogue, pianist, concertmaster and a very nice person. She had been the oldest staff member of the 1st Musical school and the musical college; she had lived a long, happy and worthy life, and she always will, in the memory and in the hearts of her colleagues and students.
The evening was hosted by Tatiana Panaikina, an Honored Worker of Culture and Zimring's colleague; and Semen Vachstein, a radio journalist who had known Zimring personally. The hosts managed to create the climate of naturalness, turning the event into a meeting of friends and like-minded people, who share the respect towards Raissa Zimring and love for music.
Raissa had been born in 1915 in now a foreign city of Zhitomir, however her entire life had been linked to Penza. She had finished Penza Musical college in 1937, starting her way onto the big music scene. An interesting fact of Raissa Zimring's life was discovered at the evening: it turned out that each of her students considered himself/herself to be the teacher's favorite. Demanding and result-oriented, Raissa Zimring had managed to instill in her students self-reliance; to cultivate persistence in reaching goals; to find good and warm words for everyone. She had never criticized any of her students, although she had considered herself to be a strict pedagogue. What had made her student react in the right manner was her desire and ability to understand, to explain, and to cheer up; her unstoppable and boiling activity and energy. An interesting detail: even those who had not been attending classes by Zimring, consider themselves to be her students, for the influence she has had as a professional musician and pedagogue on her colleagues had been enormous. It had always been held self evident that if Raissa had started something, the success had already been guaranteed.
Here is another interesting fact of this outstanding woman's life: at the age of 46, already an experienced pedagogue, a piano division superintendent in the musical school, she had entered the Distance Learning Department of Gnessins Memorial Musical Institute in Moscow, graduating cum laude from it. So far, this is the sole case in the history of the musical college, when its graduate becomes a student at such a "big" age and graduates with distinctions.
The students and colleagues of Raissa Zimring said words of gratitude. However, the best tribute was the music performed by Zimring's students and by the students of Zimring's students

Источник: ijc.ru