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Pianist Nicolas Hetko is a student at the University of Miami studying music performance and audio engineering. He took up the piano at the age of 9 where he studied classical music with Richard Cherry. Years later he began studying jazz with Lee Shaw. During high school he attended the NYS Summer School of the Arts School of Jazz Studies at Skidmore College in 2007, 2008, and 2009 where he studied with Bill Cunliffe, Todd Coolman, Curtis Fuller, Clayton Cameron, and Bobby Shew. The last year he attended, he received the Dean L. Harrington Memorial Scholarship - one of only two given out in the entire program. He was the pianist for the 2008 NYS Band Directors Association Honors Jazz Ensemble under Jim Snidero. He was recognized in 2008 with certificates of Merit for Outstanding Musical Achievement from the NYS Assembly and the NYS Senate. In 2009, he received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer award in for his composition Snowflakes, was chosen to participate in the prestigious Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program, and was selected into the Brubeck Jazz Colony. Nick was the pianist for the Gibson/Baldwin 2010 Grammy Jazz Ensemble and received a Downbeat Award for outstanding soloist the same year. He has performed around the country with the likes of James Moody, Matt Wilson, Chris Potter, Buddy Guy, and Kenny Burrell. He is the pianist for the Stamps Jazz Quintet at the University of Miami and studies under the tutelage of Shelly Berg, Martin Bejerano, and Daniel Strange. |
