While teaching piano at college and performing as a concert pianist in her native Moscow, Anya Grokhovski still found time to gather at friends’ homes to perform, sing, and celebrate with good food and drink.
When she and her first husband arrived in San Antonio in 1991 for teaching positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Grokhovski continued that musical tradition with new friends.
It was through these small, festive gatherings that the seeds were planted for Musical Bridges Around the World (MBAW) after a group of music lovers, mostly physicians, helped raise funds to get the organization off the ground.
“I had no ambition of ever starting a nonprofit. I didn’t even know they existed,” said Grokhovski, artistic director and CEO. “I left Russia when it was still the Soviet Union, which was not an enterprising country at all.”
MBAW recently kicked off its 17th season, and in conjunction, the board of directors has approved offering free admission to all public concerts, including its Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral and the International Music Festival, “Music Without Borders,” slated for next May, which will move to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.