Moses Lake pianist performs at honors recital

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake student performed last week at the Washington State Music Teachers Association Honors Recital.

“She performed very musically and beautifully,” music instructor Marina Munter wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “A lot of teachers from all over Washington commented to me how much they enjoyed her performance with a lot of musical expression and emotion.”

Anna Borodulin, who has studied with Munter for nine years, was one of 11 students statewide selected to perform at the WSMTA Conference, which was held at Central Washington University June 27-29.

“It was a little intimidating because a lot of those kids who won are really good, and much better than me,” Borodulin said. “Also, it was at Central, which is a big campus. But once I actually got there and tried the piano, it was a little better because all the performers sat int the front row, so you couldn’t really see the audience. And I didn’t really think about the audience; I just focused on playing the piece.”

Borodulin was selected to perform at the conference after excelling at the WSMTA’s Music Artistry Program in April, Munter wrote. In that program, 45 Basin music students vied for the honor, judged by Washington State University Music Professor Fabio Menchetti. She has competed at the MAP before, she said, but this is the first time she was chosen to represent Moses Lake. At the MAP, Borodulin played “Sonata in E Minor” by Joseph Haydn, and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Lost Illusions.” Munter chose both selections for her, Borodulin said.

“When I enter my students in the competition, I choose a piece that is not often performed,” Munter wrote.

At the conference, Borodulin reprised her performance of “Lost Illusion.” 

“It’s a very expressive piece,” Borodulin said. “It’s not as intricate and difficult as some more famous pieces can be, but it is very beautiful and requires a lot of attention to detail.

Borodulin is a 2026 graduate of the Moses Lake School District’s Digital Learning Center, and graduated with her associate’s degree from Big Bend Community College at the same time. She also plays the violin, Munter wrote, and plays piano for her church.

Borodulin liked the DLC, she said, because it was conducive to her music studies.

“The fact that it was an online program gave me more time at home, more time to practice and work on my music,” she said.

    Eleven music students from across the state were selected to perform at the WSMTA Honors Recital in Ellensburg last week. Anna Borodulin (sixth from left) represented Moses Lake.