Rivers Conservatory Prepares Gorski Twins for Life at London’s Royal Academy
From the time they were four years old, Sally and Sasha Gorski practiced the violin for two hours per day. It increased to three hours at age seven; from then on, it was at least four hours per day.
It's no surprise, then, that by the time they were seniors in high school, they were good enough to set off for the incredibly prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London.
When Sasha and her twin sister, Sally, started taking music lessons at The Rivers School Conservatory in fifth grade, it was clear already that they were already something special.
For Sasha, the moment she realized she wanted to play music for a living came when she was in fourth grade.
"We were playing a Mahler symphony," she said. "Months of effort, of yelling from our conductor, of sweat and tears had come together, and it was beautiful."
Until that time, Sally wasn't sure she was good enough to make a career out of music. That all changed when she was nine years old, performing at her mother’s Halloween concert.
"I was wearing a parrot costume and playing Mendelssohn," she said. “I remember coming off the stage, and everyone gave me a standing ovation. That was the moment when I turned from a student into a musician."
By the time they started high school and the Conservatory Program at Rivers, the twins’ goal was to gain acceptance to a classical music program at the college level. Ideally, the Royal Academy would be their destination—but setting your sights on a program that admits about five American students per year certainly comes with sacrifices.
"You have to give up a lot—social life, sleep—we had to miss out on stuff because we were practicing," Sasha said.
Finding enough time to practice was no small feat. The twins, who grew up in Franklin, Mass., lived almost an hour away from Rivers. The types of students who would be competing against them for spots in the world’s most prestigious music schools had been preparing for the admissions process since the age of 10.
The Rivers Conservatory Program devised a unique curriculum for the twins that would allow them the requisite practice time while making sure that they maintained a full class schedule and finished within four years with the necessary graduation requirements.
Despite their long daily practice sessions—which regularly occurred before school, after school, and during free periods—both girls managed to maintain grades good enough to stay on the high honor roll.
But that’s not to say it was easy. Both girls auditioned for nine schools, and the auditions came in stages: Once an applicant advanced past the preliminary stage—for which the main requirement was about four hours of recorded music—he or she earned the right to audition live and in person.
When all was said and done, of their nine auditions, the one for the Royal Academy was the most successful.
"It was my best audition because I stopped caring," Sasha said. "I was like, 'I need to play how I want to play, and if you don't like me, that's fine.'"
That mentality seems to have paid off: Both girls were accepted to the world's very best schools, including Julliard, the Manhattan School of Music, Johns Hopkins, and, of course, Royal. But their final decisions were not difficult to make.
"Royal is an international school, and it only had five spots open for people outside of the U.K.," Sally said. "We knew if we didn't take those spots, there would be so many people who would want to take our spots."
Neither student plans to stay in London forever—and somewhat surprisingly, neither of them plans to pursue a career as a soloist.
"I want kids one day," Sally said. "As a soloist, all you do is practice and travel, and I want a family."
If the past has taught us anything, though, these two are going to be just fine—no matter what kinds of challenges life throws their way.
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