Department of Music Faculty and Staff

Zachary Lopes, DMA, is an active soloist and collaborative artist and has given performances and master-classes across the United States, South America, and Europe. He was the winner of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Piano Concerto Competition and has been featured with his trio on CBS Sunday Morning’s “A Grand Plan for Pianos” and on WUOL Louisville Classical Radio as a soloist. Recording projects include the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion on Soundset Recordings, American Violin and Piano Sonatas on MSR Classics, and a 2019 release on Albany Records of Robert Muczynski’s three piano sonatas.

He has given numerous performances at colleges and universities across the US, including residencies at Louisiana State University and the University of Idaho where he gave concerts, master-classes, and lectures on the music of Muczynski. Zach also gave a lecture and performance on the music of Muczynski at the 2017 Jazzit Festival in Feltre, Italy. He has presented several times at the MTNA National Conference, as well as the MTNA Collegiate Chapter Piano Pedagogy Symposium, the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum, and the Kentucky State Music Teachers Association Conference. He has been published in Clavier Companion and the MTNA E-Journal.

Zach has held teachings positions at Wittenberg University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and served as Assistant Administrative Director of the CCM Prague International Piano Institute for the summers of 2011 and 2012. Zach is an active member of Music Teachers National Association at both the national and state level and was the Directing Coordinator and Planner of the 2nd MTNA Collegiate Chapter Piano Pedagogy Symposium in 2012. He subsequently served on the MTNA Collegiate Chapter Piano Pedagogy Symposium Steering Committee for two years. In addition, he served as President of Kentucky Music Teachers Association from 2018 to 2020. Zach received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Former teachers include Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff, Doris Lehnert, and Robert Spillman. He is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Chair of the Music Department at Western Kentucky University. He resides in Bowling Green, Kentucky with his lovely wife, Jenny, and 6-year-old twins, Asher and Cecilia.