Aryo Wicaksono - pianist, collaborator, arranger, composer

Contacts:
awicaksono7760@gmail.com
520-204-0914
foto

Biography
Hailed by the Arizona Daily Star as a pianist with “technical prowess, balletic grace, warm tones, and unwavering devotion to the score,” pianist Aryo Wicaksono has performed in many venues and festivals in Arizona, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., New York City, Fort Worth – Texas, Las Vegas, St. Petersburg – Russia, and Sonora, México. He has performed with the St. Petersburg State Symphony in St. Petersburg – Russia, Nusantara Symphony Orchestra of Indonesia, United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Tucson, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Wind Ensemble, and Arizona Percussion Ensemble, performing concertos and new works ranging from Liszt, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Philip Glass.

As a musical director and pianist for Arizona Onstage Productions for the musical production of Elegies – Looking Up by composer William Finn, he won the Arizona Daily Star’s “Mac Award” 2006 for Best Musical in Tucson, and the Tucson Weekly “Best of Awards” Best Musical in Tucson for 2006-2007. Recently, he made his sold-out orchestral debut with the St. Petersburg State Symphony in St. Petersburg, Russia, performing Prokofiev 1st Piano Concerto in D-flat major Op. 10. He also debuted in the prestigious Embassy Series Concert in Washington D.C., in December 2008. Recent highlights include Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto with Maestro Hikotaro Yazaki and Nusantara Symphony Orchestra in Jakarta, and Prokofiev 1st piano concerto with Maestro Philipp Maier and United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the first Western Classical Music Artist invited as an Artist-in-Residence to give a two-week residency (master classes, recitals, and lectures) at the American University of Sharjah, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in November 2009.

With soprano Kathryn Mueller and baritone Nathan Krueger, he is part of the Swara Sonora Trio, a group that he’s been performing together with since 2004. Recently they premiered Ananda Sukarlan’s “Love and Variations” suite for soprano, baritone, and piano (written for the group – 18 minutes) on April 25, 2008. The trio recently completed a successful Peace Tour Indonesia, in August 2009, performing and teaching in several cities in Indonesia (Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Bali, and Surabaya) to give concerts and master classes. All the proceeds from this tour and some from their US concert fundraising went to UNICEF Indonesia Children and Women enrichment program and Rotary Club International End-Polio Campaign (Bali concert). The trio was interviewed on an-hour-exclusive live Paradise-FM Bali Interview with Helena Keith on August 13, 2009, and the same interview were re-broadcasted internationally through Voice of Indonesia and Voice of America Radio Network. Swara Sonora Trio was also featured on Bali-Vision TV profile, about their concert tour, teaching, and fund-raising activities.

As a composer, he actively writes for plays, musicals, and ballet dance productions. His recent composition work, an incidental music for the Teatro Jaguar Luna based in San Francisco and Mexico, entitled "Jaguar Magician of the Moon" was on tour in the summer of 2008 at prestigious summer festivals in Columbus OH (June 2008), Washington DC (July 2008), and New York City (August 2008).

He was recently featured on the KUAT TV Arts Illustrated Broadcast program and ARTe, on their local SouthWest artist profile. In addition, his Artist Profile Story has been featured and published by Jakarta Post, Antara International Wire News, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Weekly, QBHeadlines Magazines, and MeAsia Magazine 100th edition celebration. He was interviewed by METRO-TV on their morning English Language News Live Broadcast on August 7, 2009. His performances have been broadcasted in radio in Spain, United States, and Indonesia. He is a proud OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts) Teaching Artist from 2004 to 2010, an award-winning Arts-Integration program in the Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, Arizona. He currently resides in New York City.