Charisse Baldoria

Philippine-born pianist, composer, and educator Dr. Charisse Baldoria draws upon Western pianism, her Southeast Asian and Hispanic heritage, and various art forms in her work. Prizewinner of international piano competitions, she has performed as a soloist on five continents and established a career as a musician with multidisciplinary interests. She has collaborated with dancers, visual artists, performance artists, and Hindustani classical performers, performs her own compositions, and explores the art of improvisation. 

Her album Gamelan on Piano features music inspired by Southeast Asia while Evocación showcases flamenco and tango inspirations. Her recently recorded all-Godowsky album features the complete Java Suite inspired by pianist-composer Leopold Godowsky’s travels to the island of Java in 1923, as well as other pieces inspired by non-Western cultures. Recordings of her song cycles Alchemy and The Kiss based on the poems of Denise Levertov and Sara Teasdale are also being prepared for release. 

In line with her interest in Hispanic cultures, she gave a solo recital at the International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music (FIMTE) in Spain, a series of concerts sponsored by Spain’s Ministry of Culture and the Instituto Cervantes, and concerts in Argentina. Awarded a grant by the Cuban Research Institute, Dr. Baldoria did research at Florida International University’s Díaz Ayala Collection, the world’s most comprehensive Cuban music collection. Her musical explorations have also taken her to Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Java, and Bali. 

She was a prizewinner at the San Antonio International Piano Competition, semifinalist at the Sydney International and Hilton Head Island International piano competitions, first prize winner of the Society for Musical Arts competition, two-time winner of the University of Michigan concerto competition, and first prize winner of several competitions in the Philippines. 

Recent and current composition projects draw upon poetry as well as elements of improvisation, Impressionism, modern harmonies, jazz, gamelan, pop music, and Latin music. A professional composer-arranger in the Philippines for many years, Dr. Baldoria wrote the music for TV and radio ads of large corporations and government agencies. While at the University of Michigan, she studied composition with Erik Santos and Susan Botti, and electronic music composition with Evan Chambers. 

She studied piano with Logan Skelton at the University of Michigan where she did her master’s as a Fulbright scholar and doctorate under full university scholarship. 

Aside from teaching piano and composition at Bloomsburg, she also teaches at the Honors College.