Piano, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Violin, Viola, Cello, Flute, Clarinet, Voice,Saxaphone, Trumpet
Mark Castellano began his musical career at the age of 15. He started out performing in local and regional bands, and by the age of 18 he was already teaching his own private students. He began playing guitar at the age of 9, and soon began taking lessons with famed tri-state area guitarist Lou Ubriaco, to whom Mark owes much of his guitar technique. In 1996, Mark began studying under the expert tutelage of world famous accordion player Carmen Carrozza, who also played piano and violin. Mark gained a vast wealth of knowledge in piano and theory from his lessons with Carmen.
From 2001 to 2006 Mark taught private lessons and toured with a band all over the East Coast, while playing various jazz gigs throughout Westchester County, Connecticut, and New England. During this time, he also wrote his own original music and taught afterschool programs at various elementary and middle schools throughout his local area.
Mark performed in a touring band produced by Rick Chertoff, producer of such acts as Joan Osbourne and Cindy Lauper. The band had produced three albums as well as a couple of side projects. However, Mark felt called to take his musical career in a different direction. Having already completed his Bachelor's degree in Music Composition from Purchase College in New York, he decided to return to school and earn his Master’s Degree as well. He began by studying Music Composition at Hartford University, where he successfully composed several original pieces for Classical Piano. Mark then went on to complete his K-12 licensure program and now holds a Master's degree in Education from Concordia University.
He then moved to Colorado to pursue his dream of obtaining a formal music-teacher license. Since 2008, Mark has been furthering his Jazz piano skills under the instruction of Justin Adams, a locally famous and wonderfully skilled piano teacher at Metropolitan State University in Denver. He has also studied Classical piano with Dr. Tamara Goldstein and Peter Friesen.
Mark has performed at a wide variety of venues throughout New York and Colorado, including the Colorado History Museum and the Black Crown Piano Lounge. A versatile musician, he has performed in almost any genre imaginable, from jazz and rock to punk and ska. From 2016 to 2022, he served as organist for the Colorado Avalanche professional hockey team.
Mark believes that everyone has the ability to learn a musical instrument. He enjoys helping his students learn to love and appreciate music, and to reach their own individual goals as musicians.