Ms. Natalia

Studio founder and head of piano department,

Instructor of Piano, Music Theory, Piano, Chamber Music, and Accompanist

Aspirantura (Eqv. Doctoral Degree), St. Petersburg State Conservatory after Rimsky-Korsakov, Russia

DMA, Michigan State University, USA

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Native of Russia, Natalia Tokar completed her masters and doctoral studies at the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, Russia and Michigan State University, USA under the guidance of such prominent pianists as Nadezhda Eismont, Sean Botkin, Deborah Moriarty and Minsoo Sohn. She performed in numerous solo and collaborative concerts and as a soloist with orchestras in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Mainland China, on such prominent stages as Carnegie Hall Weil Recital Hall. Her other professional engagements include serving as instructional assistant of collaborative piano in the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, instructional assistant at HKUST, pianist at the Mariinski Theatre and collaborative pianist for many universities, international competitions and festivals. In 2024 she was chosen to represent Hong Kong as soloist and collaborative pianist at the international Bellini Festival in Catania, Italy. In 2026 she performed as a part of the concert “Women in Music,” a showcase of women composers and musicians in honor of international women’s day at HKUST and helped to bring to light such overlooked composers such as Sofia Gubaidullina. She also released the CD Schumann’s Enigma under the Blue Griffen Label (USA) in collaboration with violinist Dr. Svetlana Tsivinskaya.

 

Since moving to Hong Kong in 2014, Natalia has been an active member of the music community performing as soloist and collaborative pianist with various reputable organizations, such as HK MusicaViva, HKUST Music Alive, Bright Sheng’s Intimacy of Creativity international festival of contemporary music, Musica del Cuore, RTHK 4 Radio, and RTHK 31 TV, and others. Apart from performance activities, Natalia contributes to educational environment of Hong Kong. She serves as adjudicator for a variety of music competitions in the Greater Bay Area and she has given presentations on Russian music and culture at the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She has organized a series of local young talent programs and educational concerts without age restrictions accessible for families with infants or people with disabilities. Some of her well-known Hong Kong performance collaborators include: pianists Amy Sze, Helen Cha; cellists Richard Bamping, Artem Konstantinov, Marko Lopez de Vicuña; violinists Amelia Chan, Gián Paolo Peloso, Yingha Zhao; clarinetist Andrew Simon; vocalists Isaac Droscha, Li Yang, Etta Fung, Carol Yu, Vicky Wu, Henry Ngan, Alison Lau, Phoebe Tam, Bobby Zhang, Collete Lam and more. 

 

 

Natalia is an award winning piano pedagogue and founder of the Russian Sound Music Academy. She has served as the head of its piano department for 11 years and has taught more than 250 students in Hong Kong. Her students have accumulated more than a 100 awards at competitions and more than 50 have passed advanced level ABRSM exams (grades 5-8) with a 90% distinction ratio, with more than 10 having passed their diploma exams including ABRSM, DipABRSM, ATCL, LTCL, and FRSM. Her students have made performances as solists and with orchestra on such stages as HK City Hall, Carnegie Hall Weil Recital Hall, Beijing Central Conservatory Hall, St. Petersburg Capella Hall, and more.

 

Besides piano performing and teaching, Natalia is also interested in composing piano arrangements and singing. She is an active vocal coach, as well as singer in various local musical theatre and opera productions and choirs. In 2026 she performed the principle roles of Nettie Fowler in Carousel and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. She is currently preparing a program of self-accompanied piano-vocal works focusing on 19th century Russian art songs. She also served as a Russian-English interpreter for MusicaViva, The Elena Obraztsova Foundation, The Borodin Quartet and RTHK.