What's New        -    from frank
Hi and thanks for the visit. I'm getting lot's of chances to play with and for a lot of wonderful people. Please join us.
West 73rd, The Kurt weill project, is performing at Feinsteins 8/30 !
see the myspace site.  A Song About Forever, the debut cd received a MAC Award Nomination: "Best Jazz Recording of 2008."

All4One piano duo, with pianist Alex Wu, is taking off with a new cd and performances all over.  Diva's Lament, with vocalist,  Annie Kozuch, got great reviews. We just performed in Natchez, Miss. and are now working on a new show and cd.
The tenor Gilbert Rolle and I are producing a new cd with French and American songs, some of which he has already perfrormed in Washingtomn and Switzerland. Vocalist Jan Prokop and I performed a show on Mary Martin’s life in her old home town of Weathford, Texas. 
The CD, Quando Swing, featuring Rosemary Loar is now avaialable.

Vocalist Gary Fields and I will be recording a very original Jazz CD in october. We just did a big show at the Edison Ballroom.

A friend found the video to the one commercial I "acted" in. To see my 2 seconds of fame click here  - i'm the blind man.

Frank Ponzio, pianist and composer, has earned wide acclaim and admiration for the integrity, sensitivity, and passion of his playing.  Regarded particularly for his transparent touch and eloquent performances, he has captivated audiences all across the United States.

Frank has performed and collaborated with a variety of well-known artists, including Ben Vereen on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, David Amram, Phil Donahue, Joe Beck, Nancy LaMott, Baby Jane Dexter, Bob McGrath of Sesame Street and Aisha Morris (Stevie Wonder's daughter).
He performs solo concerts and leads his own bands at the legendary Birdland, the Algonquin Hotel, The Museum of Modern Art, Trinity Church, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Town Hall. As a music director, composer, and arranger, Frank has worked on numerous productions, including shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden.

In the last year Frank has performed with some broadway performers including Chuck Cooper (Chicago, The Life), Rosena Hill (Spamalot; The Color Purple), Rosemary Loar (Cats; Once Upon A Mattress, Alton Fitzgerald White (Ragtime; Miss Saigon; The Lion King; The Color Purple), and Nancy hess (Chicago, Company).

As a music director and composer Frank has worked on numerous productions, including shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden. For two years he had been music director for Aisha Morris (Stevie Wonder’s daughter). He has also worked as vocal coach at the New School’s Actors Studio (1994-97), as well as the William Riley Studio whose students include Celine Dion, Faith Hill, and Stevie Wonder.

As a composer and arranger, Frank is much in demand.  He has created original scores for The Silver Swing, an independent film directed by Martha Parker, The New School's  production of David Mamet’s radio play, The Water Engine and the score for the feature film A Level Field (Breaking in to kill mp3) . In television and radio, he has written music for Dunkin’ Donuts, Kmart, Exxon, and Campbell's Soup.

As an educator, Frank has been especially active in the community, bringing music to both young audiences and senior citizens, as well as to groups with special needs. He has enjoyed a fifteen year-long association with the National Dance Institute, an innovative organization founded by Jacques d’Amboise that brings the benefits of the arts to children from all social and economic backgrounds.  He was their full-time music director from 1991 to 1994. and has become very active in special projects.  From 1989 to 1996 Frank performed regularly at a homeless shelter in New York, the Ittleson Center (for emotionally disturbed children), St. Francis School for the Deaf, The Lighthouse (a center for the blind in New York), and Martin Deporess School (for troubled children).  From 1997 to 2005 he was the music teacher and dance accompanist for an innovative program for wheelchair-bound students and non-disabled students at PS 199 in New York. (the Dead Sea Dance mp3 written for NDI)
Currently he teaches piano, theory, song-writing, arranging and hand-drumming.

In 2005, frank joined the Heidi Latsky Dance Company as Music Director. Heidi Latsky was a celebrated principal dancer for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance (1987-1993) and is an internationally renowned choreographer as well as founding director of Heidi Latsky Dance. Shows include Club Riot, Disjointed, 5 open mouths and now Gimp (formerly from the limb)

Frank graduated from Indiana University, where he fell in love with jazz and studied with David Baker. Since moving to New York, he has continued his studies with Mike Longo, longtime music director for Dizzy Gillespie. He has studied and performed with the composer David Amram and studied conducting with Jack Lee.