Diana Cusano

Rex & Edwina Gardner Genre Prize, Scherzo · Results

Plays Friday, October 9, at 6:15 pm Running order

Louisville, Kentucky · Epidemiologist and Mom

Diana began playing piano at age five and pursued serious classical training through her teens, including a televised solo recital for the Young Steinway Concert Series and a PianoArts competition prize featuring a concerto performance with orchestra. She then earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and an M.P.H. from Yale School of Public Health, followed by a decade in healthcare analytics — years during which music receded into the background. In 2023, while raising three young children, she returned to serious piano study. She now works with Anna Petrova (UT Austin), following earlier training with Lyn Bronson, Emilio del Rosario, and Stephen Perry. Since her return, she has been a finalist in the 2025 Oberlin International Adult Amateur Piano Competition and the 2026 Boston International Piano Competition, where she won the prize for Best Classical Performance.

First Programme

Chaminade – Autrefois, from Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87Chopin – Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20

Second Programme

Rautavaara – Pelimannit (Fiddlers), Op. 1: III. Klockar Samuel DikströmScarlatti – Sonata in A major, K. 101Scarlatti – Sonata in E minor, K. 98Chopin – Polonaise in G-sharp minor, Op. posth.Beethoven – Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27, No. 1, Sonata quasi una fantasia

Schedule

Friday, October 9, at 6:15 pm, in Session 4. The full running order is on the schedule page.

Jim ChouCharl de Wet