Piano is arguably one of the most challenging instruments to master. 88 Keys. Countless combinations of chords, notes and scales. Most who claim some degree of expertise share a story arc that started at a very young age, often sitting on the knee of an older relative who infused a love of music into their youthful charge.

Award-winning pianist/composer John Bucchino’s story shares those elements. During his pre-school years, he spent many a day next door at his grandmother’s house. She happened to own a piano and, for as long as he can remember, it was his favorite toy.

“Plinking” those keys as a toddler started him on a path that led to a career writing music for Broadway plays and Hollywood movies. The list of artists who’ve performed his music include such notables as Art Garfunkel, Judy Collins, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Michael Feinstein, and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as The Boston Pops and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Among his honors are two Drama Desk nominations, The Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award, The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, and The Los Angeles Ovation Award. 

Bucchino has written scores for a number of musicals, including Broadway’s A Catered Affair, which won the New York Drama League Award for Best Musical. His credits also include the DreamWorks animated film, Joseph: King of Dreams, and lyrics for the children’s musical Simeon’s Gift.   

Interestingly, songwriting was Bucchino’s second choice as a musical career. He actually wanted to be a pop star like Billy Joel or Elton John, but nobody in the record business would give him the time of day. 

As a composer, Bucchino is somewhat unique in that he cannot read or write music. He relies on two separate keyboards and a healthy dose of technology to transfer the songs in his mind to sheet music he can share. 

However, that “limitation” is nothing more than an “asterisk” when compared to the magnitude of his talent as a pianist.  A taste of his virtuosity is captured on his solo piano CDs:  On Richard Rodgers Piano, which was actually recorded on the piano Rodgers used to compose with his writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein; and The Beatles Re-imagined. Both projects are populated with improvisational versions of well-known tunes by the artists…that are never played the same way twice.

And that is what makes a John Bucchino concert somewhat of a “trust exercise”. He doesn’t know exactly what’s going to come through his fingers at any given moment. Sometimes it’s absolute brilliance. Sometimes, not so much. During his concert at Augusta University’s Maxwell Theater last July, we got a whole lot of the former, and even the snafus were veiled in overwhelming excellence.

The concert featured Bucchino’s interpretations of Richard Rodgers songs and Beatles tunes played on solo piano. He was kind enough to give GPB exclusive permission to record the performance for broadcast.

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The concert airs Saturday, November 19th at 10pm on the GPB Radio Network.