Louis Cucunato

Guitarist, Pianist, Composer, and Teacher

From my recital at Maranatha Baptist University, Watertown WI (2022)

Here’s the second video from the pieces I recorded a some years ago. Enjoy!

This is the first of two short pieces I recorded a couple of years ago. I wasn’t able to upload them onto YouTube with my dinosaur of a smartphone. Recently, I finally found a way, so now they are up for your viewing pleasure!

A short video on how to improve your chords. In my experience, this simple method has been the most effective for most students.

An oldie but a goodie.

I composed this short prelude during my first semester of grad school at Indiana University (Fall semester, 2014). Very proud of this one and it’s a go to for my programs!

In short, I took a bass line from a song by a rock band (which I will not give the name!) and wrote a melody over it for the opening measures. From there, it’s a rounded binary piece with four-bar phrases. Brouwer’s etudes were my main reference for composing the piece (again, mainly studying the number of bars in the phrases), but other inspirations were pooled together as well such as J.S. Bach and Barrios. There is a consistent campanella effect throughout the piece; campanella are a very beautiful effect on the guitar, in my opinion. That’s the piece in a nutshell! Enjoy!

Here’s a short lullaby I wrote for a concert themed with a program of lullabies! Hope you enjoy! Personally, despite its simplicity, I’m really proud with how this one turned out, especially the middle section and how that material is tied into the ending.

The premiere of my first guitar duo titled: “Ocean’s Waves.” A huge shout out and thank you to my good friends Cassius Stein and Onur Alakavuklar for taking the time to learn, finger, and perform this piece!

An excerpt from a trio of short pieces I composed: “Three Simple Pieces.” If you can guess why each one is subtitled “A,” “B,” and “C,” then I’ll dedicate the trio to you.