Piano concert planned for Jan. 27

Sokasits will play the restored 1918 Steinway in the event which is free, open to the public and available via live streaming online.

He teaches studio piano and class piano, piano literature, piano pedagogy, and chamber music at Hastings College.

He previously served as assistant professor of piano at Ithaca College, and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sokasits is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music through the Music Teachers National Association. He has served MTNA and the Nebraska Music Teachers Association in numerous capacities at the local, state, and division levels.

In 2010, Sokasits received the NMTA Award for Outstanding Service, and in 2011 he was honored as a national MTNA Foundation Fellow. His students have continued their work at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and undergraduate and graduate studies at many institutions including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Lawrence Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, and Texas Christian University.

In the summers, Sokasits serves on the piano faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan.

Sokasits holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a student of Howard Karp and three-time recipient of prestigious Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Graduate Fellowships. He holds the Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Applied Music from Ithaca College.

He is a member of the artists’ rosters for the Nebraska Arts Council Touring Artists Program and the Heartland Arts Fund/Mid-America Arts Alliance and a regular presenter at state, regional and national conventions of professional organizations such as the Music Teachers National Association and the College Music Society

He has appeared on Mark Custom Records with the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble and the Ithaca Children’s Chorus and Albany Records with flutist Leonard Garrison in American Reflections.

Sokasits has performed in recital with the Nebraska Chamber Players and numerous faculty colleagues and students in addition to other well-known groups.

Significant performances for Sokasits include a recital and master class tour to universities in New Zealand, presenting recitals of contemporary music by New Zealand and American composers, a lecture-recital at the Rhodes International Rachmaninoff Conference, and appearances as featured recitalist, master class teacher, and adjudicator for the inaugural BeÅŸparmak International Piano Festival at Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.