Nicole Piunno (b. 1985) is a composer who views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of life. Her music often reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seeming opposites are connected as they often weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging light and dark, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, chaos and order, spiritual and physical, life and death. 

Nicole 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.  Her music has been performed by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, the United States Coast Guard Band, and at many universities and conservatories around the country. Her large ensemble music has also been featured at multiple regional CBDNA conferences, the Midwest Clinic, and numerous all-state concerts.

*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

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