Elio Gaviria, piano

Meet Elio

Elio performs in a piano duo with Luke Magee on Show 416.

Elio Gaviria (piano), 17, from Chicago, Illinois, has been a student at the Merit School of Music since 2016, where he studies under Toshiko Suzuki. In his time at Merit, Elio has had many unique experiences working as a collaborative pianist in piano duos, piano trios, accompanying a wide variety of instrumentalists and vocalists, as well as performing as a pianist with Merit School’s top percussion ensemble and orchestra. As a soloist, Elio has won awards in numerous competitions, including second place in the Illinois State Music Teachers Association (ISTMA) North Piano Competition. He has also had the opportunity to work with many notable piano teachers nationally and internationally, including Alexander Romanovsky and Pavlina Dokovska. Elio has been honored to perform at many events, but one of his most treasured accomplishments has been the invitation by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to perform in their Latino Alliance – Noche Navidena, where he performed Beethoven Piano Sonata op. 2, no. 2 in A Major. Beginning in September 2022, Elio will start his first year at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, studying piano performance. Outside of studying piano, Elio enjoys playing guitar as a second instrument. He also enjoys playing soccer and chess and going to art museums and record stores.

Elio is a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist.
Scholarship Year: 2022