Nicole Cortero

Nicole Cortero, pianist
Nicole Marie P. Cortero is a Filipina Pianist who started taking piano lessons at the age of seven. She emerged as the Second Prize winner in the 2012 National Music Competition for Young Artists and also received the Best Contest Piece Award. In 2017, she won Second Prize at the Gray Perry Young Collegiate Piano Competition and won the Third prize at the Baltimore International Piano Festival. She recently won Second Prize in Great Composers International Competition Series for the best performance of a work by Ludwig Beethoven and Frederic Chopin.
Nicole has appeared in numerous concerts in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, National Arts Center, and has participated in Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines Festivals, Paulinian Music Festival, and PASINAYA Open House Festival. She had masterclasses with Rebecca Penneys, Dr. Nikita Fitenko, Dr. Stijn De Cock, Dr. Svetozar Ivanov, Alexander Shtarkman, Daniel Shapiro, Kirill Gerstein, and Alessandro Deljavan, Dr. Ross Salvosa, Dr. Oliver Salonga, Dr. Jerico Vasquez, Dr. Nancy Elton, Prof. Albert Tiu, Prof. Ng Chong Lim, Yingying Su.
Nicole has studied with the late Professor Nita Quinto and Professor Carmencita Arambulo while attending at Philippine High School for the Arts on a full scholarship. Nicole graduated from Lynn Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, Magna cum Laude, under the tutelage of Dr. Roberta Rust. Currently, Nicole is a Graduate Assistant and pursuing her Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at the University of South Florida under the guidance of Dr. Svetozar Ivanov.