Performance to include top Dana pianist

Staff report

CANFIELD

Local pianist Michael Nichols will be showcased in the McGuffey Historical Society’s annual fall piano program at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ursuline Center, 4280 Shields Road.

Nichols, winner of the Youngstown State University Dana School of Music young artists competition, will perform on a Steinway grand piano at the Music in the Afternoon program. He will be joined by guest pianists Anthony Ruggiero and Alyssa Titi.

Selections will include works by Chopin, Ravel, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Hough, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev.

Reservations are suggested, with a good-will offering of $5 accepted. Call Richard S. Scarsella, chairman of the McGuffey society, for information or to make reservations. Walk-ins will be admitted based upon availability of seats. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

Nichols, who has been performing since age 11, is a graduate of Chaney Visual and Performing Arts School in Youngstown and the Dana School of Music. He has performed in numerous YSU and Chaney concerts, recitals and plays as pianist, arranger and music director.

He was a featured pianist at the annual William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School’s Founder’s Day/Pioneer Award ceremony, which is sponsored by the McGuffey society.

He currently studies with both Caroline Oltmanns, Dana keyboard professor and department chairperson, and Sean Baran. He is the music director at Disciples Christ Church in Boardman.

Anthony Ruggiero is a former Dana School of Music adjunct professor and the former music director of Martin Luther Lutheran Church, Youngstown. Alyssa Titi is a Dana keyboard performance major and has played in numerous recitals.

The William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society will be selling its new DVD, “William Holmes McGuffey: America’s Schoolmaster,” in celebration of its 55th anniversary.

The society provides high-interest public programming in an effort to keep the McGuffey legacy alive in the area. McGuffey is known as the author of the famous “Eclectic Readers,” published in 1836 and still in print.

McGuffey’s homestead in Coitsville is a National Historic Landmark. Now known as the McGuffey Wildlife Preserve, it was donated to Mill Creek MetroParks by the McGuffey society in 1998.