"To say pianist Nino Cocchiarella is on a hot streak would be an understatement," says the Ball State Daily News, proclaiming that he "is living the dream many classical musicians strive for." 26-year-old pianist Nino P. Cocchiarella, "a pianist on a roll," according to the Evansville Courier and Press, has thrilled audiences across the globe with his performances, which the New York Times describes as "particularly impressive."
Upcoming performances this spring include solo concerts at Chiesa Nuova in downtown Chicago, the "Celebration of Sound" Concert Series in Columbus, Ohio, Mount Union College in Ohio, Chicago's "Schubertriade" festival, Georgetown College and Hopkinsville College in Kentucky, and a special event at the Gail Borden Library in Elgin, Illinois. Other recent performance highlights have included solo concerts at the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Illinois, Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, the Cleveland Playhouse, the Glema Mahr Fine Arts Center in Madisonville, Kentucky, Graves Recital Hall in Columbus, Ohio, the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines, North Carolina, the Academy of Arts and the Mozart Music House in Honolulu, Hawaii, Brigham Young University in Laie, Hawaii, Kohala Ranch on Hawaii's "Big Island," the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Grace Congregational Church in Rutland, Vermont, the "Arts in August" concert series in Evansville, Indiana, and in South Korea at GloVil Fine Arts Hall and Busan National University.
Already a professor by age 23, Nino has also been sucessful as a teacher. He has lectured and given masterclasses at Busan National University in Korea, GloVil Art Hall in Korea, University of Evansville in Indiana, Brigham Young University in Hawaii, Madisonville Community College in Kentucky, and has served on the piano faculty at the University of Evansville. Nino will lead a masterclass this spring at Georgetown College in Kentucky.
Nino has an internationally distributed discography including works by Handel, Schubert, Chopin, Mussorgsky, Schumann, and Brahms, produced by his own label, Mr. Owl Productions. The International Pictures at an Exhibition Association writes "His approach to 'Pictures' is quite his own... I can find no faults in this beautiful interpretation." CDBaby.com calls his Schubert Wanderer Fantasy "the most powerful performance of the Wanderer Fantasy I've ever heard." His music has been purchased and downloaded over 10,000 times on iTunes and other online music stores.
Nino has also been an active pioneer of the multi-media concert performance. An avid long-distance hiker, he combines his own nature photography with his concerts in his popular "Pictures Project." The original "Pictures Project" was inspired by Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," but now extends to performances of other works.
Nino's competition prizes include the Best Solo Performance Award in the Corpus Christi International Competition, top prizes in the Music Teachers' National Association piano competition, the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts music competition, the National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, the Indianapolis Concerto Competition, and the IU Concerto Competition. He graduated from Indiana University in 2004 as a student of Menahem Pressler and Edward Auer. Nino lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, pianist Jeeyoon Kim.