James Tocco (born 1943) is an American concert

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He is the youngest of thirteen children born to Vincenzo and Rose Tocco, both Sicilian immigrants.

Early life

Born of Sicilian immigrant parents in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, Tocco's love of music -especially opera—began in early childhood. At six years old he began studying piano and at twelve he made his orchestral debut, performing Beethoven's Second

Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

. He won a scholarship to the Salzburg Mozarteum and a French government grant to study with

Magda Tagliaferro Magdalena Maria Yvonne Tagliaferro (19 January 18939 September 1986) was a Brazilian-born pianist of French parentage. Magdalena Tagliaferro was born in Petrópolis, Brazil. Her father, who had studied piano with Raoul Pugno in Paris, was a voi ...

in Paris. His

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

education was completed with Claudio Arrau in New York. Soon afterward, he became more prominent with his first-prize victory in the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

in Munich, followed being a replacement for Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli as guest soloist for the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto at the Vienna Festival.

Career

In the years since then he has performed internationally, throughout North and South America, Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan, Australia, South Africa] and the Middle East. His orchestral engagements include: *Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras; *Berlin Philharmonic *London Philharmonic *Hong Kong and Munich philharmonics *London, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, New World, National, and NHK (Japan) symphonies.

Conductors

Conductors with whom he has collaborated include: *

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

* David Atherton *

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

*Jesús Lopez-Cobos * Andrew Litton *Yoav Talmi * Robert Shaw * Yoel Levi * Zdenek Macal *

Eduardo Mata Eduardo Mata (5 September 19425 January 1995) was a Mexican conductor and composer. Career Mata was born in Mexico City. He studied guitar privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he ...

Musical Performance

Tocco is a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He has performed many American and European masterworks, including Bernstein's Age of Anxiety, which he recorded with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, and John Corigliano's Piano Concerto. The pianist's performances included his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra debut, performing the MacDowell Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, both conducted by Leonard Slatkin. An especially accomplished recitalist, Tocco has performed interpretations of Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt, as well as 20th-century composers, and he regularly programs the keyboard works of Handel. Other performances include Bernstein's Age of Anxiety with

and the New York Symphony, and Leonard Slatkin and the London-based BBC Symphony orchestra.

Discography

Tocco's discography includes: *Bernstein's complete solo piano music *Solo piano version of the Suite from Rodeo *The complete Chopin Préludes *The complete piano music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes *Erwin Schulhof's Cinq Etudes de Jazz *Bach-Liszt organ transcriptions *Copland Music for Piano *Various chamber music of Eduard Franck. *Four piano sonatas of

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites ''Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...

. Recently, he performed a recording of Corigliano's Etude-Fantasy on Sony Classical.

Educational Work

In addition to his itinerary, Tocco is Eminent Scholar/Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a faculty member at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

and professor of piano at the

Musikhochschule A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

in Lübeck, Germany. Tocco is the co-founder and original artistic director of the Great Lakes

Chamber Music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

Festival in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Co-founder is James Tocco's brother, Reverend Monsignor Anthony Tocco of St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic Church.

Honors

He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron

References

Manhattan School of Music: James ToccoJohn F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts: James Tocco
* ttp://www.hexagone.net/music/cvprofs/james%20tocco.htm Hexagone.net: Classical Music Academies - James Toccobr>ArkivMusic: James Tocco
Lists 15 albums on several different record labels.

Reviews

* ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EFDE153EF931A2575BC0A9639C8B63 The New York Times, August 12, 2005: Adventures Outside the Classical Canon: Pathfinding Composers"Here are some favorite contemporary recordings of the classical-music critics of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

." {{DEFAULTSORT:Tocco, James 1943 births American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Living people Manhattan School of Music faculty Piano pedagogues 20th-century American pianists 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists Academic staff of the Lübeck Academy of Music