Tony Caramia is a pianist of many talents who performs ragtime, jazz and classical music, sometimes all in the same concert.   He has been playing piano since he was seven, but encountered ragtime in a serious way only when he began teaching at the University of Illinois in 1975, where one of the first numbers he learned was 'Dizzy Fingers'.   He is currently a Professor of Piano at the renowned Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he is director of Piano Pedagogy Studies and Coordinator of the Class Piano Program.

Tony is a much-sought-after performer and master class instructor at music conferences, workshops and festivals worldwide.   He has performed with such jazz stars as Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Terry Gibbs and Marian McPartland.   Once he was asked, "Since you play classical and jazz so well why do you bother with ragtime?"   His response was "Bother?   Bother?   I find ragtime charming, vibrant and full of joy!   It's not Beethoven, but why should it be?   After all, not all classical music is Beethoven."

Caramia performs Novelty Ragtime, Classic Ragtime, Contemporary Ragtime and syncopated pieces composed in the 1920s and 1930s.   He is one of very few performers who plays the rags and syncopated pieces of the English Composer Billy Mayerl.

He has for many years been a featured performer at the prestigious Sedalia, Missouri Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival as well as ragtime festivals in California and on the East Coast.   In 1999 he was also the Artist in Residence at the Scott Joplin Festival which included a ragtime master class.   His four CDs span a wide spectrum of ragtime and syncopated music.

He has also played and done master classes for the National and International Piano Workshops held in 1999 in Glasgow, Scotland; in 2000, in Graz, Austria; and in 2001, Australia.   Recently he was artist in residence in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois and played 32 concerts for a total of over 6000 people.   This will be Tony's third visit to Oklahoma, having performed in Tahlequah and Edmond during the last few years.