Oscar Macchioni

Oscar Macchioni joins the College of Music as Associate Professor of Piano Pedagogy. Oscar Macchioni enjoys a versatile career as a solo and collaborative pianist, teacher and mentor, author, adjudicator, recording artist, and higher education administrator. Oscar grew up in Tafí Viejo, a small town in northern Argentina, and at age eight he asked his parents for piano lessons. His piano studies were carried out without a piano at home. In fact, he was 18 when his parents were able to buy him his first piano. Creativity was boiling in his blood, but without a piano his outlets were playing and composing for the recorder, painting, designing, Legos, chemistry sets, building things with wood, and theatre.

The lack of a piano did not derail him from pursuing a career in music. Following high school graduation, he enrolled at Universidad Nacional de Tucumán for civil engineering and music. After two months, he quit Engineering and dedicated himself completely to music. He progressed very quickly and in 1992 obtained a scholarship to study piano at the Academy of Music of Krakow. Upon graduation and a short visit to relatives in New York City, where he took private lessons, Oscar decided to continue with his master’s in piano at SUNY-Fredonia, later transferring to Louisiana State University, finally completing his doctoral piano studies at the University of Arizona (UofA). He is always thankful to all his piano mentors who believed in him: Lucia Herrera, Celina Lis, Ewa Bukojemska, Ana Maria Trenchi de Bottazzi, Phyllis East, Michael Gurt, Nohema Fernandez, and Tannis Gibson.

While a student at the UofA he won a summer Graduate Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Latino Initiatives where he conducted research on the impact of the Argentine tango in the music of the United States. This opportunity granted him access to documents and scores, later becoming the topic of his dissertation: The Tango in American Piano Music. Selected Tangos by Thomson, Copland, Barber, Jaggard, Biscardi, and Bolcom, which was then published as a book by College Music Society. He has also published articles in piano pedagogy and literature.

Oscar has performed extensively in his native Argentina, Italy, England, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, China, and the United States, at notable locations such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Teacher's College at Columbia University, Steinway Hall, St. Martin in the Fields and James's Church, Piccadilly in London, the Querceto International Piano Festival in Italy, and the National Conservatory in Bueno Aires, Argentina. His live performance in the Myra Hess Memorial Concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center has been broadcast on radio and television. While he is an assiduous performer of the classical Latin American repertoire, his programs include an eclectic repertoire from Bach and Brahms to Piazzolla and Bolcom.

A dedicated teacher and mentor, Oscar received the prestigious University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2015, and in 2019 was inducted into the UTEP Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He is in much demand as an adjudicator at various state, national and international piano competitions and festivals. His lecture-recitals and presentations at international conferences have received numerous accolades, including the Second International Vernacular Conference in Puebla, Mexico (Outstanding Musical Presentation); and The European Piano Teachers Association (Diploma of Excellence).

He received the Music Teachers National Association StAR Award and was named "Distinguished Graduate Student" by the University of Arizona. He has been the recipient of several grants, most recently the Texas Commission on the Arts through the El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, to perform concerts in underserved communities. He was Professor of Piano, Assistant Chair of the Department of Music and Keyboard Area Coordinator at the University of Texas at El Paso. Oscar Macchioni is a Steinway Artist.