Maria Pikoula

Pianist Maria Pikoula has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist and in a wide variety of settings in Europe, North America and Russia. She gave her official solo debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall sponsored by Artists International Presentations and has been featured soloist with the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in the Baltic States. She has collaborated with Opera Orlando on various projects and has performed in venues such as the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, the beautiful Sala dos Espelhos at Lisbon’s historic Palaçio Foz and the Kennedy Center. She has also been featured artist at the Hellenic Consulate in New York, 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 W.O. Forsyth Memorial Award, the Manhattan School of Music Merit Scholarship, as well as the Eleni Gatzoyiannis, John Silber and Richmond Awards. 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 Presentations Special Prize, 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 the Manhattan School of Music in New York under Arkady Aronov and her Bachelor's Degree with Honors from the University of Toronto under Boris Lysenko. She pursued additional piano studies at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory under Valery Kastelsky, Natalia Trull and Margarita Fyodorova and studied chamber music and collaborative piano with violist and founding member of the Juilliard String Quartet, Raphael Hillyer, cellists Leslie Parnas and Marc Johnson, and violinist Scott St. John, among others.