Joseph PecoraroView profile
Professor
Joseph Pecoraro serves as Professor of Guitar and Chair of the Guitar Department at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), where he has been a full-time faculty member since 1998. Previously, he held teaching positions at Salem College, Indiana University, and the University of Colorado. Pecoraro is a highly accomplished concert and recording artist with an international performance career spanning the United States and abroad. He has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Roanoke Symphony, Wintergreen Music Festival, and Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Center, Washington Library, and Chicago Cultural Center across the U.S., France, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico. His artistic interests focus on Guitar Performance across multiple genres, Music Pedagogy , and the application of the Alexander Technique to musical performance. Pecoraro is dedicated to developing "the whole artist and person," helping students become versatile creators, interpreters, improvisers and performers. His teaching philosophy emphasizes skill development beyond specific repertoire. Pecoraro's recordings showcase stylistically diverse repertoire from around the globe, with a particular emphasis on contemporary American compositions. His album "Perennials" features world-premiere solo guitar works by noted American composers, while "Reflections" and "Sonatas Romanticas" explore Baroque and Romantic repertoire. His work demonstrates technical mastery across historical periods and contemporary styles. UNCSA Excellence in Teaching Award, 2021 As an educator, Pecoraro has trained numerous students who have won top prizes in competitions sponsored by the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, American String Teachers Association, and Guitar Foundation of America. He is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique and a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Pecoraro frequently serves as guest clinician at renowned summer music festivals across Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, where he directs the 'Nothing but Nylon' Summer Guitar Workshop. Pecoraro maintains an active performance schedule internationally, performing not only classical repertoire but also traditional Celtic-inspired music, jazz, and fingerstyle guitar. His collaborative work with multi-Grammy-winning tenor Anthony Dean Griffey demonstrates his versatility across musical genres and his commitment to expanding the guitar's repertoire through new commissions and recordings.












