Pursuit of passion: North Eugene sophomore and world-class accordion player finds her voice

Since she was 6 years old, Maria Telesheva was destined to be on stage.

Born and raised in Eugene, Telesheva grew up watching her father, Sergei Teleshev, perform as a world class accordion player. Teleshev, originally from Russia, travelled the world, eventually coming to Eugene to perform at the Oregon Bach Fest and officially moving to Eugene in 1996.

At age 6, Telesheva tried out the accordion for the first time, falling in love with the art form. A couple months later, she competed in her first international competition, winning first place despite being the youngest contestant in the 5 to 10 age range. She said that first win was a huge motivation for her to stick with her music.

While Telesheva won $150 in prize money, all she remembers was the small ceremony, and the feeling of hearing her name being called and accepting her medal.

Now 15, Telesheva is a sophomore at North Eugene High School, but her nine years of playing and competing haven't slowed down her love for music. She and her father now play as the duo “TWO ACCORDIONS,” finding international success. She has won awards in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy, Belaruse and France.

Sharing music with others

Through it all, Teleshev has been Telesheva's rock in her pursuit of music. When she began hitting a wall at age 10, finding difficulty with music theory, he helped keep her on track and maintain her passion. She said she was grateful for the push. Now, she practices between one to three hours a day, depending if they have a competition coming up.

When they're not competing, Telesheva and Teleshev spreading their music to local community groups and, at times, a national audience.

The duo has done educational performances in California and will soon be going to Texas. They previously have done presentations through Head Start of Lane County and plan to offer classes through the Lane Arts Council. These educational performances include intermittent lectures and explanations on the history of accordions. Telesheva said she likes showing how versatile the accordion can be, from jazz to rock to classical music, it can do it all.

"Educational performances are a lot more close to my heart," Telesheva said. "When I was little, obviously, I went to school assemblies and we always had either artists or performers come in and share their talent with us or art. I wanted to do that for other kids as well."

The duo does presentations for all ages, but Telesheva said her favorite audience is elementary-age students who are often passionate during audience participation.

Teleshev has long been a music instructor, offering lessons in accordion often to adults, but he maintains Telesheva is his best student, hinting she has even surpassed his own talent.

"I liked working with her from the very beginning," Teleshev said. "She progresses very fast and (is) a good learner."

A scholarship for good

Last spring, Telesheva found out about a new scholarship opportunity through NEHS.

The Lij Taylor Memorial Grant is coordinated by NEHS librarian and English teacher Amary Taylor. She scholarship is designed to help students pursue their passion projects in honor of Taylor's son Elijah, who died in 2017 at age 11. Instead of a scholarship that would be a "drop in bucket" for someone's tuition, Taylor wanted the money to inspire students and be something memorable for them.

"In a system with this many students... it's hard to really drive something that is like, 'what do you want to do?'" Taylor said.

Taylor had been wanting to do something to honor her son and his memory. The idea started in 2022, coming to fruition at the end of the spring term in 2023.

Telesheva found out about the grant through her history teacher, who recommended she apply. With her father's help, she submitted a promo video, showing her accordion playing and singing from when she was younger to now. She applied with the premise of making a music video in California.

Telesheva wasn't sure if she would get any funding, but her dad had every confidence in her.

"I knew she's gonna be in because she's so talented," Teleshev said, smiling.

Seeing the submissions of Telesheva as the 14 others that applied for funding, Taylor wasn't able to choose just one winner. With goals ranging from a new school newspaper to launching a train company, Taylor said she saw her son reflected in each passion project and could see each being good friends with him. Each of the 15 students was awarded between $100 to $500 out of the $5,000 grant pool. Taylor felt that was the exact way Elijah would have wanted it.

Telesheva won $400 from the Lij Taylor Memorial Grant. The funds went toward lodging and other expenses in her travels to California. The music video features Telesheva singing "Água de Beber," a Brazilian bossa nova jazz song from the 1960s, as her dad accompanies her on the accordion. The two are pictured around La Jolla in San Diego.

Although this is not her first ever music video she and her dad have shot, Telesheva said she put extra effort in because she wanted to make her scholarship worthwhile.

Once it was uploaded, the video was spread around NEHS by staff who were impressed by the quality. Taylor remembered being stunned after watching.

"She's so humble and kind of understated," Taylor said, adding that she had no idea Telesheva was an awarded musician before her application. "As much as she's a performer, it's not performative. It's just, she's doing this thing that she loves."

Telesheva said the entire experience was rewarding.

"It took so much time and effort," Telesheva said. "I'm very grateful for the opportunity with the grant. Hopefully I do something like this again in the future."

Taylor wants to open up the grant again for summer 2024, hopefully getting even more applicants and donations.

"It's coming from a really good place, and it's based on something and someone very magical," Taylor said. "It both brings me joy, and it makes me sad, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love them so much, and I love being reminded of him."

To donate to the Lij Taylor Memorial Grant, visit www.nehsbooster.com/lijtaylormemorialgrant.

Exploring her passion

Apart from accordion, Telesheva dances and can play the shaker, piano, melodica, flute, violin and is starting to learn guitar, but her big focus now is on her vocals.

Since winning the grant, Telesheva has put more effort into honing her voice. Although she has been singing since she was young, this is her first time trying to sing more professionally.

She began taking vocal lessons from a teacher in Ukraine in the past few months and is already seeing improvements despite how challenging its been.

"It has been difficult, but I've seen a lot of results in a very short amount of time," Telesheva said. "I had to relearn a lot of what I thought I already knew, coming from a professional teacher. I have to do things very differently.

"I almost don't recognize my own voice."

Telesheva continues to be dedicated to her art. She knows she wants to pursue a career in music.

"I have been told before that it's just a hobby, my opinions are going to change in high school, but they haven't," Telesheva said. "I want to be on the stage. I have so much love and passion for music, and I would like to continue to pursue it."

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Meet North Eugene student and world-class accordion player Maria Teleshova