When world-renowned pianists Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers describe Rochester, their words carry a mix of affection, gratitude, and belonging. Though their paths to the city were different, Rochester has become the home where their lives have come full circle.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine “at the tail end of Brezhnev’s Stagnation and Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika,” despite the political upheaval, Lomazov remembers her childhood and teenage years in the former USSR as happy, thanks to her parents’ efforts to create stability. Summers were spent on the road and camping trips. Her father took her to the movies, and her mother took her to ballets, concerts, and plays. Education was central. “The state supported system of public education was very good, and I had an excellent high school education and a very rigorous music education,” she says.
But life was not without challenges. Lomazov says that her parents, who were Jewish, had always talked about leaving the country because of persistent antisemitism and covert quota systems that limited their opportunities in higher education and the workplace. Her father, who worked on plane aerodynamics, faced those barriers but still built a respected career. When political changes in the late 1980s lowered his security clearance, the family began the emigration process.
A college friend of Lomazov’s father, who had moved to the United States years earlier, helped secure him a position as a chief engineer at Rochester’s Jasco Sun plant, and after a six-month period in New York City, the family relocated to Rochester, and their lives took root.
“We instantly fell in love with Rochester,” Lomazov says, and the location proved fortuitous. The city housed one of the world’s best music schools, and Eastman quickly became her “beloved alma mater.” Her father thrived at Jasco Sun— rising to the plant’s president within seven years—and her mother worked as a civil engineer. Meanwhile, Lomazov happily attended the Eastman School of Music on a generous scholarship and worked as an organist at Temple Sinai in Penfield.
With a small house in Penfield and used cars for each family member, Lomazov says they “were living the American dream.” They were given refugee status upon arrival and became proud U.S. citizens six years later. Many members of her extended family arrived soon after, working in fields ranging from engineering and IT to dentistry and financial advising, while their children benefited from what she calls Rochester’s “unparalleled education,” with so many institutions nearby.
More than the material comforts, what meant the most to Lomazov and her family was opportunity. “All of us were given chances to study and work and, based on our merits alone, with no other biases, we were given a chance to move forward and succeed.” Lomazov also raves about Rochester’s history of welcoming immigrants and notes the thriving community of Ukrainians, Russians, and Jewish people from the former Soviet Union who have made the area their home.
After completing her undergraduate degree at Eastman, Lomazov earned a master’s at Juilliard then returned to Rochester for her doctorate. It was there that she met fellow pianist Joseph Rackers, who came to Rochester from Missouri in the late 1990s to pursue graduate studies at Eastman. Despite their different backgrounds, Lomazov says, “Our values, worldview, and love of music created an unshakable foundation for our marriage.”
Together, Lomazov and Rackers embarked on a joint journey as performers and educators. Their careers first led them south, where they joined the University of South Carolina’s faculty, formed a piano duo, and co-founded the internationally recognized Southeastern Piano Festival. They toured and performed widely, training the next generation of pianists.
But the city that welcomed Lomazov’s family as immigrants, nurtured their talents, and served as the couple’s musical foundations, was never far from their hearts. So, when Eastman extended an invitation for them to return as piano professors, they happily returned.
“In full circle, we came back to Rochester, our adopted home town,” Lomazov says. Today, their lives reflect both gratitude and continuity. They have come back not just as accomplished performers and teachers, but as part of the larger fabric of a community that once embraced a newly arrived family from Kiev and a young pianist from Missouri.
For Lomazov and Rackers, the story of Rochester is personal. It’s the place where opportunity triumphed over obstacles, where family found stability and success, and where love and music forged a lasting partnership.
“We instantly fell in love with Rochester."