David Allen Nichols

About

David Allen Nichols is a New York-based performer and composer whose reputation as an improvisational pianist has led to an array of collaborative works for dance, film, theater, and television. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he was trained as a classical pianist and received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he later pursued graduate studies in both piano performance and composition. He has lectured on topics of musical analysis including Messiaen's modes of limited transposition and tonal symmetry in the late works of Franz Liszt. Since 2002, he has been Music Director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Ballet and Pianist for the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. His projects have included American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, and Twyla Tharp, as well as jazz at Manhattan's "Eighty-Eights." His music was featured in the soundtrack of Corsair Pictures' "Miss Firecracker" (1989) and a 1995 CBS "Eye on America" documentary with choreographer Eliot Feld. His ambient music CD productions have been featured on nationally syndicated NPR and PRI radio programs "Hearts of Space" and "Echoes." An artist/composer member of BMI, his compositions and recordings are distributed in 37 countries. Mr. Nichols maintains a private teaching studio in Bronxville, NY, and is an instructor with Piano Instructors of Northern Westchester (PINW). He offers his popular "Fierce Fingers" piano intensive, guiding young students to technical proficiency in a fun and encouraging setting. He is available for lessons in Mount Kisco, Yorktown, Bedford, Bronxville, Somers, Katonah, Chappaqua, Armonk, Briarcliff Manor, Scarsdale, White Plains, and many other Northern Westchester communities.

Specialties