HOCKET announced as new Piano Spheres Core Artist

USC Thornton alumni duo HOCKET has been named the latest addition to Piano Spheres’ roster of Core Artists, the first to be added to the concert series’ roster in 26 years.

Piano Spheres was founded in 1994 by pianist and former USC faculty member Leonard Stein with the goal of showcasing new music for the piano, and has long featured the work of Thornton musicians and composers. HOCKET joins Thornton alums Gloria Cheng (DMA ’91), Vicki Ray (DMA ’88), Mark Robson (MM ’89) and Susan Svrček (DMA ’90) as Piano Spheres artists.

As piano duo HOCKET, Thornton alums Sarah Gibson (MM ’10, DMA ’15) and Thomas Kotcheff (MM ’12, DMA ‘19) perform cutting edge commissions and contemporary music. The duo made their Piano Spheres debut in 2017, and have continued to perform with the concert series since. Most recently, on March 3, Kotcheff performed Frederic Rzewski’s “Songs of Insurrection,” a concert-length solo piano work drawing from protest songs from around the world. As Core Artists, the duo will present an annual program with Piano Spheres.