Rita Veneziale

Piano, Theory and Composition Instructor

Genres:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Blues, Rock, Fusion, Funk Education:
Senior Year at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York (Music Composition with Related Minors, Piano Concentration)
BIO:
Composer Rita Veneziale finds herself at home both in film and concert music. Over the last four years, she has collaborated with multiple filmmakers, composing scores and soundtracks for animated films, and has completed rescores and participated in film music contests. In 2022 Rita conducted her score for Snowman (directed by Diane Lee) live-to-picture at Beston Hall, the first time a live-to-picture film was presented at Nazareth University. In the concert music arena, Rita has written orchestral, chamber and solo works. Her orchestral piece Chernobyl, depicting the 1986 nuclear disaster and its aftermath, won the X Nazareth University Composition Competition. Rita has also written big band charts, including February, Without You, and Rolling Highway. Following her studies with composers Dr. Octavio Vazquez and Harry Stafylakis, Rita will be graduating in May with a Bachelor of Music in Composition, and minors in Music History, Music Theory, Contemporary Commercial Music, and Entertainment and Recording Industry. Next year, she will go on to study a master's degree in Film and Media Scoring, having already received offers from NYU Steinhardt, Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, and Longy School of Music in Boston. Rita is a former piano and composition student of Andrey Lubimtsev and a former cello student of Michael Cameron. She now studies music composition with Dr. Octavio Vazquez in college, and has studied with Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis during his sabbatical. She also studies piano with Dr. Gary Fisher and jazz with Professor Bradley Batz. She is active in the Nazareth University Symphony Orchestra, where she plays cello, and performs on piano with the Naz Jazz Lab Band and Jazz Ensemble. Rita also has experience accompanying vocalists and instrumentalists in classical, musical theater, and pop styles. Every summer break, Rita is assisting with our piano classes and Rock Band camps, leading music theory and composition workshops and teaching private piano lessons.