Photo Credit: Darcy DuRuz
Photo Credit: Eddie Barksdale
Coco Bender is a pianist residing in the Pacific Northwest. She recently performed with Cascadia Composers, recorded original film scores by Portland composer Christina Rusnak for the Pioneers: First Woman Filmmakers Project, and during the pandemic presented a series of outdoor recitals featuring music by H. Leslie Adams, William Grant Still, Bartok, and others. Coco is a co-artistic director and musical director of an all-women circus, Girl Circus, and a member of the balkan orchestra Kef. She has taken master classes with Inna Faliks, Tamara Stefanovich, and Dr. William Chapman Nyaho. Coco currently studies with Dr. Thomas Otten. In addition to performing regularly, she teaches a large studio of students in the Pacific Northwest, from Seattle WA to Eugene OR. In 2021, Coco became the accompanist for Portland treble choir Aurora Chorus under the conductorship of Kathleen Hollingsworth, Margaret Green, Betty Busch, and Joan Szymko.
Coco graduated with a Bachelors of Arts cum laude from Lewis & Clark College in 2016, where she was a student of Dr. Susan DeWitt Smith, and was voted a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
She has been playing the piano for 20 years and teaching for 10, since 2012. She loves cats, biking in the sun (and the rain!), and playing the piano! In her work as both a performing pianist and a piano teacher, she strives to teach and play with effortless mastery.