Nicole Piunno is a composer who views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of life. Her music reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seemingly opposites are connected as they often weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging the light and dark, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, chaos and order, spiritual and physical, life and death.

Piunno holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition and a Master of Music degree in theory pedagogy from Michigan State University. Her composition teacher was Ricardo Lorenz. She earned a Master of Music degree in composition at Central Michigan University, studying with David Gillingham. Nicole earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and her emphasis was on instrumental music.

Piunno is a frequent guest at universities and festivals in the United States. Her works for wind ensemble have been performed by ensembles around the world, including “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, the United States Coast Guard Band, and the United States Air Force Band of the West. Her large ensemble music has also been featured at multiple regional CBDNA conferences, TMEA, the Midwest Clinic, and numerous all-state concerts and state conferences.

Her chamber music has been performed around the world and showcased at conferences such as the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the International Trombone Festival, and the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference.

Her works are represented on many commercially released recordings that can be found on Naxos, DAG Klassical, Mark Records, and others.

*D.M.A., Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition, Michigan State University, 2014

*M.M., Master of Music in Music Theory Pedagogy, Michigan State University, 2014

*M.M., Master of Music in Composition, Central Michigan University, 2011

*B.M., Bachelor of Music in Music Education, 2007

Signature Works:

Sunflower Studies: Symphony for Wind Ensemble

Bright Shadow Fanfare

Short Artist Statement

I compose from the conviction that music is not merely a form of self-expression, but a medium that reveals something beyond the self. Music is a place where meaning is revealed. It is not created to distract or entertain, but to draw us nearer to reality. Music opens a passage between the seen and the unseen. It reveals what the eye cannot grasp and what the ear cannot fully hear. It bears witness to a world that is deeper than the one we touch.

My work seeks to guide the listener toward that depth. I do not write to display myself. I write to point beyond myself, toward truths that ask something of us. I compose music because it is a place where the soul can be addressed directly, and I hope to offer nourishment to those who listen.

Many of my pieces hold both beauty and brokenness. These are the two ends of our existence and they are often intertwined. One is stronger than the other, yet the struggle between them shapes us. I want my music to carry this tension.

Though my work is not centered on self-expression, it is shaped by the life I have lived. Sorrow, desire, surrender, and joy have become the soil through which I have come to know certain truths. I am drawn to how suffering can refine the heart and how renewal can rise from what has been lost. I compose to bear witness to love, grace, and restoration.

I frequently get asked how to pronounce my last name. Here’s some help: Two syllables: pyo͞o-no