NIKKI STOIA

nrs@cas.umass.edu
251 Fine Arts Center
(413) 545-2227

CHIEF UNDERGRADUATE ADVISOR; ASSOCIATE DEAN OF ADVISING, COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES & FINE ARTS; ACCOMPANIST; SENIOR LECTURER

Coach/accompanist, piano soloist, singer and conductor Nikki Stoia is known for her musical versatility, with repertoire that encompasses traditional and contemporary classical and popular music. Her concert work has taken her to many U.S. cities, including New York, Washington, San Francisco and Honolulu, and as accompanist for the Smith College Chamber Singers, she appeared in concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm, among others. Ms. Stoia's performance as piano soloist with the Massachusetts Wind Orchestra of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and her duo-piano recital with conductor Raymond Harvey (Kalamazoo Symphony) have been aired by National Public Radio. She has also appeared in performances at various U.S. and Canadian venues as a member of the "Bob Becker Ensemble" and has performed in concerts at International Tuba and Euphonium, International Trumpet Guild and Percussive Arts Society conferences.

Ms. Stoia is presently a Senior Lecturer in the University of Massachusetts/Amherst Department of Music and Dance and Co-Director of its Opera Workshop, Music Chief Undergraduate Advisor, and Associate Dean of Advising for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. She is also a four-time Distinguished Teacher Award nominee and a 2006 Outstanding Academic Advisor Award winner at the University. From Fall 2003 through March 2005 she was the Music Director, conductor and pianist for all the premieres and subsequent performances of the opera The Captivation of Eunice Williams (music by Paula Kimper, libretto by Harley Erdman, conceived with Linda McInerney, Stage Director). Having served as accompanist for the Springfield Symphony Chorus for nineteen years, Ms. Stoia is now in her third year as Music Director/Conductor of this ensemble. In the summer of 2008, Ms. Stoia served as Head Vocal Coach and Chorus Master for the opera program, Italian Operatic Experience, in Urbania, Italy. She holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Accompanying and Chamber Music from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, acknowledged as a Phi Kappa Phi graduate, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, where she majored in Music and German.

Appointed 1991