Anthony Molinaro is an American composer and pianist. He studied with Pamela Mia Paul at the University of North Texas and then with Ursula Oppens from Northwestern University. In addition to the Naumburg Prize he has also won the William C. Byrd International Piano Competition as well as the 1995 National Piano Fellowship of the American Pianist Association.
Anthony Molinaro is already being called “one of the most exciting young pianists in the globe.” His stunning performances and unmatched versatility have won over critics and audiences alike since his win at the 1997 Naumburg International Piano Competition. Molinaro is known for his “edge of the seat brilliance” as well as his “musically imaginative mind.” His performances have taken him to major music venues across the country, including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis and Los Angeles. Molinaro has been featured on Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series, The Young Artist Series (Krav Center), and the Charles Vanda Master Series (Las Vegas). Recent concerto engagements include the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Lake Forest, Louisville and Napa Valley. He has performed with the Utica Symphonies, Canton, Cape Cod and Eugene Symphonies, as well as Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and Cape Cod Symphonies. He has also performed in France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.
Anthony Molinaro has a rich repertoire of traditional concert music, but he is also an accomplished composer and jazz musician, which gives him a unique musical dimension that is not available to other artists his age. He frequently plays his own cadenzas from Mozart and L.v. Beethoven concerti and his “free-wheeling”, “unconventional,” rendition of Rhapsody in Blue includes improvised cadenzas. Highlights of 2004-2005 season include the premiere of his first Piano Concerto with Catskill Symphony in November and a return engagement at The Chicago Jazz Orchestra with his arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue for big band. He performed with The Northwest Indiana Symphony and The Ethos Chamber Orchestra and gave recitals at Northern Illinois University, The Grand Teton Music Festival and The Eastern Music Festival. He continued to collaborate with Howard Levy, a harmonica virtuoso (The Molinaro–-Levy Project, featured in the February 2004 issue Downbeat Magazine), and included an extended European tour through Germany, Italy, France and The Netherlands. He performed with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra and The Ethos Chamber Orchestra during 2005-2006, as well as in recitals throughout Europe and the USA. His first solo European tour was in March 2006. It included stops in Berlin, Vienna, Zurich and Berlin. He has also traveled extensively with Howard Levy, both in the USA as well as abroad.
Anthony Molinaro is an exclusive recording artist for Nineteen-Eight Records, which he founded in 2001. His debut CD, “The Bach Sessions”, features The Goldberg Variations as well as the F Minor and A Major Concertos performed by Andrew Litton with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra. His second recording, “New Blue”, is a Gershwin collection that features his solo rendition of Rhapsody in Blue. The disc is called “New Blue” and includes Three Preludes, Anthony’s arrangements, and improvisations on Gershwin classics Summertime. His most recent album, “The Molinaro-Levy Project LIVE”, is a compilation of performances at The Green Mill in Chicago as well as at two venues in upstate NY.
Anthony Molinaro lives in Chicago, his hometown. He is also a musician and has coordinated three summers a music program in South Hampton for children with disabilities.