Biography

Nicola Canzano (b. 1991)  is a composer, harpsichordist and organist based in New York City who specializes in the composition and improvisation of baroque music. His baroque compositions have been performed across the globe and some of them have appeared as course material at the University of Oregon. 

 

He currently serves on the faculty of Michigan State University as Asst. Prof. of Harpsichord, and as a staff accompanist at Juilliard. A returning guest lecturer at Juilliard on fugal improvisation, Nicola has also given presentations on improvisation in conjunction with his ensemble, Nuova Pratica, at Cornell and the University of Michigan, and served on the panel for the International Conference on Historical Improvisation in 2022.

 

He continues to be in demand as a thoughtful continuo player, having played under the batons of Richard Egarr, Masaaki Suzuki, Dimitry Sinkovsky, Jane Glover, Paul Watkins, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Opera, VERITÀ Ensemble, Great Lakes Chamber Festival, and Juilliard415, among others. Nicola has from a young age worked as an organist in the Episcopal church, and works around the city as a substitute when he can. 

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Nicola maintains a teaching studio for students of harpsichord, baroque improvisation, and composition. He takes the efficacy of his pedagogy extremely seriously and is actively engaged in developing a methodology for the new demand for instruction in historical composition and improvisation. ​

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In addition to a degree in Historical Performance from Juilliard, where he studied with Béatrice Martin, Peter Sykes, and Richard Egarr, Nicola holds degrees in Music Composition, Physics, and Harpsichord from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Joseph Gascho and Edward Parmentier, and a graduate degree in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.