The Scripps College Music Department will host a Guest Piano Recital by internationally acclaimed pianist Richard Cionco, professor of piano at CSU Sacramento, featuring works by Grieg, Liszt and Rachmaninoff, on Tuesday, February 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Balch Auditorium, 10th and Columbia, Claremont. Professor Cionco will also hold a piano Master Class on Monday, February 16, at 4:30 p.m., in Balch Auditorium. These events are sponsored by the Harper Lecture Fund of Scripps College. Both events are free and open to the public. For additional program information or for directions to the theater, please call the Scripps College Music Department at (909) 621-8280.
Pianist Richard Cionco, praised by Donal Henahan of the New York Times for his “sensitive pianism”, has performed with many orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland Civic Symphony, the Seijo Symphony of Tokyo, Czech State Chamber Orchestra, and with the North Bohemian Philharmonia as a winner in the Prague Spring International Music Competition. He has delighted audiences in major concert halls such as New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall and Steinway Hall, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center and The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. He has made recent recordings for Innova Records and Cantilena Records, and has been heard on National Public Radio.
An International Steinway Artist, Mr. Cionco is a graduate of the University of Maryland and The Juilliard School, studying with Rudolf Firkusny, Thomas Schumacher, and Audrey Bart Brown. A recipient of a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a career grant from the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts in New York City, he is also winner of many competitions.
Mr. Cionco was a Teaching Fellow and Assistant to David Dubal at The Juilliard School for four years, and he joined the piano faculty at California State University, Sacramento in 1993. Recently he was named Artist/Educator of the Month by the Piano Education Page. He is currently Associate Professor of Piano at CSUS.