Classical style piano compositions following a Near Death Experience.
Tracks from CD:
1 Fantasia, Op.1, The Lightning Sonata, Movement 1
2 Fantasia, Op.1, The Lightning Sonata, Movement 2
3 Fantasia, Op. 1, The lightning Sonata, Movement 3
4 Rhapsody in D Minor, Op. 3, In Memory of John Lusins, MD
5 Nocturne, Op. 2
Tony Cicoria, a practicing board-certified Orthopedic Surgeon, is Chief of the Medical Staff and Chief of Orthopedics at Chenango Memorial Hospital, Norwich, New York, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at SUNY Upstate Medical School, in Syracuse. He received his BS in Biology from The Citadel and is a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina (MD, PhD) and the University of Virginia Orthopedic Surgery Residency. He lives in Oneonta, New York and has three children in college.
Dr. Cicoria’s musical career began rather remarkably when he was struck by lightning in 1994 while speaking on a public telephone during a family reunion near Albany. Shortly thereafter he developed an insatiable desire to hear and to play the piano. Around the same time, music started coming to him …first in a dream, some of which ultimately contributed to the original compositions featured on this CD. Dr. Cicoria self-taught from 1995-1997 before starting formal music instruction with Sandra McKane in 1998.
As a result of his unusual introduction to the world of music, Dr. Cicoria was featured in the New Yorker Magazine article A Bolt from the Blue, by Oliver Sacks MD, as well as in Dr. Sacks’ book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. Tony has given mini-recitals at the Sonata Adult Piano Camp, in Bennington, Vermont, under the direction of Polly van der Linde, where he has played Chopin’s Military Polonaise, Op. 40 (in 2002), Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu (in 2003), Brahms’ Rhapsody, Op. 79, No. 2 (in 2005), Chopin’s Scherzo in B-flat Minor, Op. 31 (in 2006) and an early version of his own Lightning Sonata in 2007. January 29, 2008 marked a significant milestone in Dr. Cicoria’s musical career…his public debut at the Goodrich Theater in Oneonta, New York, presented by the Catskill Conservatory in association with the SUNY at Oneonta, assisted by a grant from the NYS Council on the Arts. His performance was recorded live by the BBC-1, Granada Media UK, and German National Television. He has been profiled in numerous magazines including, The Week, Financial Times UK, Superconsciousness Magazine, and has had television presentations on Canada’s The Hour, BBC-1’s documentary Imagine, Granada Media’s documentary My Strange Brain, WSKG TV Expressions, and other soon to be released interviews.
In addition to recently recording the pieces in this program, Tony is also working on several other solo piano pieces, a 4-hand/2-piano piece, a symphony based on Brahms' Variation, op. 9, a concerto, and is also writing a book detailing the origin of his musical experience.
Tony’s teacher and mentor, Sandra (Campbell) McKane, began piano instruction at age eight with renowned pianists Gaby, Jean and Robert Casadesus, who became primary influences in her formative years. Their tutelage began in the United States and continued in France, where Sandy spent several summers studying with them, both at Fontainebleau Academy, near Paris, and the Ravel Academy, in Ciboure, France.
At age 15, Sandy began instruction with Sasha Gorodnitzki and earned her bachelors and masters degrees in music at the Juilliard School. In addition, she taught ear-training in the Juilliard Pre-College Division for 10 years. In 1988, she joined the music department faculty at Hartwick College and chaired the department from 2002-06. She has been offering private instruction to students of all levels for over twenty years. Her primary teaching focus has been the development of musical literacy.
Inspired by the outcome of Charlotte’s Circle, a parent-child service learning model, Sandy has most recently directed her creative energies toward the development of a K-12 service learning model, working with community-based organizations and teachers in the Oneonta City School District.
Dr Tony Cicoria
Read more of Dr Tony Cicoria's - Bolt from the Blue experience from Musicophilia
Tales of Music and the Brain
