Ziemba's love of music

AMHERST - As a student at some of the most prestigious musical schools in the world, Chris Ziemba has played in front of audiences all over the country.

Still, there’s something special about coming back to Western New York.

“It’s always great coming back home, for sure,” Ziemba said. “We do a lot of touring at school, but it never really feels the same as when you get to go back home and see family and friends.”

Ziemba, a Williamsville East High School graduate, recently graduated from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, where he received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees.

He spent nearly seven years working with the most talented music teachers around.

And it’ll keep getting better. Next up, the 24-year-old Ziemba will attend The Juilliard School to join its two-year post-graduate Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies.

“It’s kind of like a professional training program,” he said.

“We don’t have a lot of academic courses; it’s all performance-related. We have rehearsals and private lessons and otherwise they send us out on tours and teaching kids.

“It’s great; they have a wonderful faculty and they hook us up with really nice opportunities and build us up a nice network so that when we’re done with school, we’re ready to go.”

Ziemba’s unsure what will be next after he’s finished at Julliard. But it seems rather certain; he will have ample options when that time comes.

“One of my strongest options is to stay in New York City and try to pursue as much as I can performing and teaching,” he said. “But I can’t see too far into the future.”

Ziemba’s list of accomplishments is already impressive. He won the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition and later performed was a featured performer at the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Festival. He has performed at prestigious places such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Rex Jazz Club in Toronto, Chris’s Jazz Club in Philadelphia and Twins Jazz Club in Washington.

He made a stop back home to perform at the Amherst Symphony Orchestra’s “A Family Afternoon with the Symphony.”

He performed “Ellington Portrait” in the main event and also performed the pre-concert on Feb. 12 at Amherst High School.

It was a return appearance for Ziemba, who first performed with the ASO at the age of 7.

“It was great,” Ziemba said of his recent performance.

“Everything went very smoothly. We came in and rehearsed it once before the concert started and then played the concert. It went great.”