Robert Rocco, pianist and harpsichordist, is a native of western Pennsylvania, where at age five he began piano studies with his mother and learned music theory with his father. He holds degrees in music performance from Carnegie Mellon and Yale University, where he achieved distinction in solfège and music theory. Further studies have taken him to the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, as well as to the Salzburg Mozarteum, where he earned certificates in chamber music and German Lieder accompanying. In 2023 he was a featured pianist at the Barcelona Festival of Song and performed at the Biblioteca de Catalunya in a concert of art song by Spanish and Latin American composers. Currently on the faculty at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, he recently received the 2024-25 Excellence in Teaching Award. He also serves as collaborative pianist and instructor of French diction at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and is Director of Music at Beck’s Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. With the advent of Covid-19 in 2020, Mr. Rocco developed a recording ministry of hymn tune arrangements that he continues to share with listeners throughout the world. In addition, he is an avid ballroom dancer with achievements in cha-cha, rumba, foxtrot, swing, bolero, Viennese waltz, and Argentine tango.

Cost: Free and open to the public; No tickets required.