Ada Janik Margoshes , Pianist/Composer/Music Director/Teacher, worked for years in Broadway and off-Broadway Theater in New York City, and more recently in the Hudson Valley. She graduated from the Juilliard School, where she won an Aeolian Piano Scholarship in her 2nd year. She developed her improvisational skills in accompanying modern dance classes for Stuart Hodes (Martha Graham Dance Company). During her Master’s year at Juilliard,  Ada was invited to work at Ellen Stewart’s famous La Mama Experimental Theatre Company, NYC. While there, she worked as Music Director/Pianist/Composer/Arranger for numerous productions. During that time, she met Harvey Fierstein, and wrote & conducted the music for Fugue in a Nursery. Later, that play was incorporated into his long playing, Tony Award-winning, Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway.

 

At La Mama, Ada wrote her first version of Cummings & Goings, a staged two- act musical theatre piece of e.e. cummings' poems, set as songs in a variety of styles, from Broadway to Blues (with a cast of 5 singers, and orchestrated for an ensemble of 6 musicians). "Cummings"  won a CAPS Fellowship Award, and was subsequently performed at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in NYC, at the Village Gate and most recently in several venues in the Hudson Valley with grants from the NY State Council on the Arts. “The performances of the singer-actors radiate such intelligence, comedy and imagination that this is a must-see production for all who love poetry and theater,” (Dr. James Cotter, The Times Herald Record, 2010). 

 

 

Also in NYC, Ada wrote (music & lyrics) a faithful adaptation of THE LITTLE PRINCE as a theatre-opera. The work features a boy soprano as the Little Prince, and was performed in NYC, Michigan, and, most recently, in a theatrical concert for the Grand Montgomery Music Series. She also wrote (music & lyrics)  the musical STEALING, which was developed at the Circle Repertory Theater in NY and performed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. During this time period she also regularly played keyboards in various Broadway & Off-Broadway shows, including NY Shakespeare Festival's PIRATES OF PENZANCE, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, SHENANDOAH (also on tour), CHESS, LES MISERABLES, THE FANTASTICKS, and others.

 

Locally and more currently, Ada frequently played in the Grand Montgomery Chamber Series, the Opera of the Hudson Highlands, and Rick Regan’s New York Wind Symphony. She was the Music Director of the children's chorus at Bishop Dunn Memorial School from 2003-2020. She also played keyboard/synthesizer regularly with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra from 2005-2019. 

 

 Ada brings her ease with varied musical styles to her piano teaching. With younger students, she prefers to use the Suzuki method, with its concentration on sensitivity to tone, and consequent rapid development of the student’s listening and technical ability. With older students, she incorporates elements of jazz, popular,  &/or contemporary classical according to the tastes and abilities of each individual student. Ada has long enjoyed success in teaching ages 4 to adult, beginners through advanced levels. Her aim is always to develop the students' deep enjoyment of playing music. Her students regularly receive Outstanding ratings at both National Piano Guild & NYSSMA Festivals.