I grew up in Naperville, IL and began playing piano in first grade. I continued to play through junior high and high school, and in high school began studying jazz. I received two invitations to the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Jazz conference, and was able to play at the Lincoln Center in New York with the Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage as a national finalist in the Essentially Ellington competition.
After high school, I headed to Macalester College in St. Paul, MN where I received a Bachelor’s in Music in the graduating class of 2005. I currently play with The Orange Mighty Trio, and write electronic music under the guise Auriscope. I teach jazz piano lessons at Macalester College and Walker West Music Academy in St. Paul, where I also co-direct the jazz bands. I am the acting musical director of The Episcopal Church of St. Philip and St. Thomas, and work as an accompanist for the dance program at both the University of Minnesota and the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.
©2010 Mike Vasich
SELECTED PRESS
[for Orange Mighty Trio]:
“Violinist Zack Kline, pianist Mike Vasich, and bassist Nick Gaudette are all top-notch musicians who seem in particular sync to one another's quirks and are versatile enough to handle whatever their fervid imaginations come up with.”
-- MINNEAPOLIS CITY PAGES (ROB HUBBARD)
"One of my favorite new discoveries in the music scene has been a band called the Orange Mighty Trio, who literally meld and fuse elements of folk, and bluegrass, and experimental jazz, and even classical chamber music into something completely new."
-- MARK WHEAT OF 89.3 THE CURRENT
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