by Lon Levin
ELENA
GANJOULA
Elena V. Ganjoula was born and raised in Moscow, and has spent a lifetime in music. At the age of four, she was chosen to study at the prestigious Gnessin School of Music, a Mecca for musically gifted children, studying piano and music theory as well as academic subjects. I met Elena in a bar. Ok, that bears some explanation. Elena was actually an invited guest to our monthly client appreciation party at Crustacean in Beverly Hills. My real estate partner John Campbell and I like to mingle with friends, clients and people we want to know at these get togethers. I spotted Elena in the bar area and recognized her immediately. She’s hard to miss. I introduced myself and within minutes we were fast friends. She’s striking lady and very smart. After a delightful twenty minute conversation I asked her if I could interview her for RCM. She agreed but insisted I write above her mother as well, who I later learned was a very accomplished artist. Her green eyes flashed and I realized I was had. Here are the two stories of a talented daughter and her talented mother. When were you first introduced to the piano? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? It started because my Grandma bought an ornate looking AUERBACH piano in Germany. After World War II they stayed at Joseph Goebbels ( Reich Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany ) house for 7 years. She wanted to make sure her first grandchild will play piano and that was me!… and that’s how my life was decided. What were your influences? I grew up watching my mom painting, oils on canvas. My childhood books were Goya, Raphael, Rubens, Renoir and other master artists. Later on, I traveled all over the world. I was especially impressed by the Prado in Madrid. I was like a kid in a candy store, I saw large collections of Goya , Rubens, Raphael and El Greco paintings. I also love Photography. I studied in Santa Monica for two years.
I learn how to work in Photoshop. My love of photography started in my childhood, thanks to my mom. We spent lots of hours together in a “Dark Room” (our apartment bathroom ) developing photos! One more thing I really enjoy drawing caricatures. It started with my mom, when she worked as an illustrator in German newspaper NEUES LEBEN . Perhaps the greatest influence on me was traveling all over the world ! I spent time on the Island of Majorca, Spain, where Chopin spent harsh winters with George Sand (French feminist, novelist ), Bonn, Germany - I was at the house where Beethoven was born, Zalzburg, Austria - Mozart ...etc What kind of kid were you? When I was little, living in Russia, Moscow, I loved watching blockbuster hits TEXAS Chainsaw , DUMB AND DUMBER - later on , living in LA, by some luck I
