Joel Kabakov holds degrees in music from UC Berkeley, California State University and Harvard.
His Ph.D, thesis at Harvard is titled EL Jaleo and is a dance suite for orchestra with embedded
flamenco guitars.
While residing in Cambridge Massachusetts, Kabakov married principle dancer
with the Jose Greco Company, Antonia Rojas. Together they have collaborated as composer-guitarist
and dancer choreographer with the Boston Symphony,
Young Audiences lecture concerts, The Espana Institute at Boston Conservatory,
where they both served on the faculty, The Methow Music Festival, M.I.T., U.C. Irvine,
Spokane Youth Symphony, La Mirada Symphony, the Frye Museum of Seattle and numerous other venues.
J. Kabakov has recently introduced the guitar and world music curricula to Columbia Gorge
Community College where he serves on the faculty.
He is always accepting classical piano students which he teaches in his studio in The Dalles, Oregon. Joel not
only teaches classical piano to all ages, including small children to adults, but he brings his knowledge of composition
to the lessons. Instead of only teaching technique and phrasing, he teaches as much composition as the student desires
which enhances the understanding of the music and even brings hidden elements of the music to light.