(212) 942-2743 (home) 25 Indian Road, 4F; New York, NY 10034

                                MozartforChildren@Earthlink.net

DEBBIE SUROWICZ              

Biography:

Debbie Surowicz is the founder / director of Mozart for Children, an educational music program now enjoying its tenth successful year. Mozart for Children is designed to introduce young children, ages 2 to 8, to the great tradition of classical music in an atmosphere of spontaneity and fun.

Ms. Surowicz is an accomplished classically-trained singer. She attended the well-known High School of Music and Art in New York City and Queens College; she continued her musical studies and vocal training at the Mannes College of Music and Carnegie Hall Studios. She has studied with Boris Goldovsky and Kenneth Cooper and has sung professionally around the New York area.

Ms. Surowicz was a founding member of the Institute for Creative Development in Antwerp, Belgium and the Studio for Performance in New York. Both of these innovative theater companies focused on the use of mime, movement, and music in their original productions.

In 1989, Ms. Surowicz and her family relocated to Paris, where she again successfully launched Mozart for Children (Les enfants de Mozart). Through movement, puppets, and the evocative power of music, language barriers were completely transcended. Drawing upon her teaching experiences, Ms. Surowicz has compiled her educational techniques into a study guide available to all music teachers interested in a Mozart for Children program.

Debbie Surowicz has been artist-in-residence in the Lawrence School system and the Special Kids Intervention program and has given early childhood music workshops to many groups in and around New York. Private courses are also offered in her studio in New York City. During the summer, the Mozart for Children program moves to Lenox, Massachusetts, the home of the Tanglewood music festival.

Mozart for Children has been featured on NBC and CBS News as well as reviewed in the New York Times, New York Family, and Parents Magazine. NBC News said of Mozart for Children: "...youngsters are getting a wonderful head start in appreciating beauty and genius," and Parentguide magazine said of Debbie Surowicz, "[her] creative approach to helping youngsters explore the world of classical music is in a class by itself."

Debbie Surowicz's creative and unique approach to teaching music has produced outstanding results with youngsters of varied cultures and backgrounds (including children from non-English speaking families) who benefit by being exposed to English and music simultaneously. She remains committed to nurturing the next generation of concert goers by introducing them to the joys of classical music.