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Concert pianist Oni Buchanan performs an incredible range of piano literature, with her focus and expertise running from the miniature keyboard works of François Couperin to the syncopations of Bach to the fire and brimstone of Beethoven to the moody cycles of Schumann to the lush expanses of Ravel to the sarcasm and lyricism of Prokofiev to the peasant dances of Bartók, and—bringing her into the most contemporary musical moment—to the exceptional works of women composers writing today.

Her concert programming is often interdisciplinary in nature, directly engaging the intimate connections between the arts, and frequently including adventurous contemporary works alongside established repertoire, bringing works from disparate centuries into fascinating and enlightening conversation. Ms. Buchanan has performed solo recitals in major cities throughout the U.S. and abroad, at such U.S. venues as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) in Berkeley, the Bechstein Piano Centre in NYC, the Lane Series in Burlington, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Harvard University Hall Concert Series, among many others. She has performed internationally in major South American cities including Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Montevideo, as well as in Canadian cities including Guelph, Waterloo, Thunder Bay, and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. In 2011, Ms. Buchanan curated the acclaimed "Machines" project, an interdisciplinary collaboration featuring the machines and films of kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson played alongside incredible contemporary musical works performed by herself, Duo Orfeo (guitars), and The Guidonian Hand trombone quartet, with performances at Galapagos Art Space (Brooklyn) and The Lily Pad (Cambridge). In addition, Ms. Buchanan has given ensemble performances in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, at Harvard University, and at the New School of Music in Cambridge, MA, and has been a concerto soloist with the Waynesboro Community Orchestra (VA), conducted by Eric Stassen.

Oni Buchanan received her Master’s degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, her Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Virginia, and conducted three years of her music studies at the University of Iowa School of Music while pursuing an M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her teachers have included Russell Sherman, Stephen Drury, Daniel Epstein, Patricia Zander, Uriel Tsachor, and Mimi Tung. In addition, she studied at the Aspen Music Festival in the studios of Joseph Kalichstein and Gabriel Chodos, and has been an active participant and performer in the New England Conservatory Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP).

Ms. Buchanan is also an award-winning poet, and holds a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and an M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her third poetry book, Must a Violence, is forthcoming from Kuhl House Poets Series in September 2012, chosen by poet/editor Mark Levine. Oni’s second book of poetry, Spring (University of Illinois Press, 2008), was selected by Mark Doty as a winner of the National Poetry Series, and also received the 2009 Massachusetts Book Award. Her first book, What Animal (UGA Press, 2003), was chosen by Fanny Howe as winner of the University of Georgia Press Contemporary Poetry Series competition. Ms. Buchanan’s poems are featured in many anthologies including The Best American Poetry 2004 and have been published in numerous journals across the country. Ms. Buchanan’s discography includes three solo piano CDs on the independent Velvet Ear Records label.