Maria Pikoula

Pianist Maria Pikoula has appeared as soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist and in a wide variety of settings in North America, Europe, and Russia. She gave her New York Recital Debut in 2008 at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall presented by Artists International. She has performed and recorded in venues such as the beautiful Sala dos Espelhos at Lisbon’s historic Palaçio Foz, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music and the Kennedy Center and she has collaborated with Opera Orlando on various projects. A versatile musician, she has performed for the Central Florida Composers Forum and the Friends of Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and she has also appeared as an orchestral musician with the Villages Philharmonic. She has been featured soloist with the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in the Baltic States and featured artist at the Hellenic Consulate in New York and the Hellenic Embassy of the United Nations, and gave a special gala performance for Greece's Ambassador to the United States.

Maria Pikoula is the featured pianist in Orchid Classics’ double-album From Sappho’s Lyre in which she collaborates with an array of leading musicians. Her debut solo CD, Variations & Inspirations was released in 2016. She also recorded for the ANTARA project in London, UK and her performances have been broadcast on radio stations in North America and Europe.

Maria’s academic distinctions include the John Silber and Richmond Awards, the Manhattan School of Music Merit Scholarship, the W.O. Forsyth Memorial Award, as well as the Eleni Gatzoyiannis Award. In 2001 Maria was inducted to the Golden Key International Honour Society. She has been honored as a recipient of several accolades and awards in national and international competitions which include the Artists International Special Presentation Award, the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation Award, First Prize at the Greek Women’s University Club National Music Competition in Chicago, the Hellenic American Women's Music Award, and First Prize and Gold Medal at the 6th "X.O.N." Greek National Competition.

Maria Pikoula holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from Boston University, where she studied with Anthony di Bonaventura on full scholarship. She received her Master's Degree in Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music in New York under Arkady Aronov and her Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance with Honors from the University of Toronto under Boris Lysenko. She studied at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory International Summer School under Valery Kastelsky, Natalia Trull and Margarita Fyodorova. Her extensive background in collaborative piano and chamber music was shaped by studies with violist and founding member of the Juilliard String Quartet, Raphael Hillyer, cellists Leslie Parnas and Marc Johnson, violinist Scott St. John and pianist James Parker, among others.