Pianist/composer Scott Kirby specializes in distinctly American music which includes early jazz, Classic Ragtime, New Ragtime, Terre Verde and Creole compositions.   As he performs he also educates, providing historical context and musical insight along with his piano performances.

Each presentation offers a unique melange of ethnic music from North and South America, and American Classical music.   From the virtuoso works of Louis Moreau Gottschalk to the rags of Scott Joplin, from the Tango Brasileiro of Ernesto Nazareth to the present-day compositions of Terra Verde, Kirby illuminates how a rich musical heritage developed and continues to evolve.   Scott Kirby is one of the originators of the Terra Verde musical style, a contemporary cousin of New Ragtime.

A native of Ohio, Scott Kirby began his musical study at the age of six and continued formal piano instruction for seventeen years, working with Robert Howat at Wittenberg University and Sylvia Zaremba at Ohio State University.   After moving to New Orleans in 1988, Kirby recorded the complete rags of Scott Joplin and made his debut at ragtime and jazz festivals in the United States, Norway, Hungary, France, and Belgium.

Scott Kirby is the former Musical Director of the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival, which was held annually in Boulder, Colorado.   In this capacity, Kirby has programmed an international roster of musicians, including Joshua Rifkin and Morten Larsen, and founded a first-of-a-kind three-day institute for students of ragtime from around the country.

Kirby has recorded twenty-one CDs covering a wide range of styles, both as a soloist and as part of an ensemble.   His original music has been published and has been performed by pianists such as jazz great Dick Hyman and composer David Thomas Roberts.   Scott Kirby divides his time between performing, educating and composing.