Mike del FerroPianist, composer, and arranger.from Amsterdam. Started his career studying classical piano at the age of nine. After falling in love with jazz, he focused his studies and, later received a Masters of Music in Contemporary Music from the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1989 he won first prize at the Rotterdam Jazz Piano Competition, the soloist prize at the Europe Jazz Contest in Brussels, and the first prize at the Karlovy Vary Jazz contest. From 1993-1996 he studied composition and arranging with Bob Brookmeyer at the Musikhochschule in Colonge, Germany. In 1995 Mike was appointed to the faculty of the Royal Conservatory in Gent, Belgium where he taught jazz piano until 1997.Mike’s reputation as a soloist, accompanist, composer and arranger hasled to worldwide performances, recordings and tours with musicianssuch as Toots Thielemans, Jack DeJohnette, Oscar Castro Neves,Deborah Brown, Erik Truffaz, Scott Hamilton, Richard Galliano, Thijs van Leer(Focus), Harold Land, Jan Akkerman, Norma Winstone, Benny Bailey, Candy Dulfer,Trijntje Oosterhuis, Badi Assad, Fernanda Porto, Stian Carstensen and many others..He has also recorded dozens of albums in many different genres fromDixieland to Salsa and has arranged music for an animation movie"Run of the Mill" for Danish Børge Ring..This movie won an OscarMike del Ferro is the Director of Jazz Programs of American Voices, where he travels the world performing in countries ranging from Latvia and Turkmenistan to Myanmar and Vietnam. In addition, he coordinates artistic programming for American Voices' jazzfestivals worldwide.