An evening with those who play because they must.
Join us on May 17th for a night of music, drinks, and hors d’oeuvres—featuring pianists whose paths once led toward the concert stage, but whose lives took a different turn.
Second Stage is an annual concert series that brings together Cincinnati music lovers and pianists who were once on a professional path but have since pursued different careers.
These are performers for whom music was never abandoned—only temporarily set aside. Though their paths led away from conservatories and concert halls, their love for music endured: shaped by thousands of hours of practice, sustained through late-night sessions and moments stolen between work and life. They continued because music remained their most accurate language, but it can be lonely to perform a communicative act with no one listening.
Second Stage is an invitation to return—not to the career they stepped away from, but to sharing music with those who are also moved by it.
This is a celebration of second chances—for expression, for connection, and for the kind of musical honesty that surfaces only when the need to build professional prestige is replaced by the need to simply play for the love of it.
Join us for an evening of performances where we come as we are, with personal stories and a shared love for music that never left.
These are performers for whom music was never abandoned—only temporarily set aside. Though their paths led away from conservatories and concert halls, their love for music endured: shaped by thousands of hours of practice, sustained through late-night sessions and moments stolen between work and life. They continued because music remained their most accurate language, but it can be lonely to perform a communicative act with no one listening.
Second Stage is an invitation to return—not to the career they stepped away from, but to sharing music with those who are also moved by it.
This is a celebration of second chances—for expression, for connection, and for the kind of musical honesty that surfaces only when the need to build professional prestige is replaced by the need to simply play for the love of it.
Join us for an evening of performances where we come as we are, with personal stories and a shared love for music that never left.
Location
Office of Radenso Radar, Floor 2
222 E 14th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
222 E 14th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Date & Time
May 17th, 2025, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Performers
Diana Cusano
LLouisville, KY
Diana has loved the piano since age five. It all began with an electric keyboard that was quickly replaced with a Yamaha upright. Within a year or two of beginning her studies, it was discovered that she had perfect pitch. Serious studies commenced up through high school, with ample competition wins and performances, including a televised hour-long solo piano recital for the Young Steinway Concert Series and a PianoArts competition win which included a concerto performance with orchestra.
These experiences were exhilarating for Diana, but she also loved the sciences. So she studied at the University of Chicago (Chemistry, B.S.) and Yale School of Public Health (Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, M.P.H.) and followed this up with a decade-long career at Humana (Director of Population Health Analytics).
After getting married, having three young cute children (ages 9, 7, and 4), and turning 40, Diana finally had some time for reflection and strategic thinking. So, in the fall of 2023, she decided to go back to the world she dearly missed and longed for - the world of piano! Diana now studies as an amateur with concert pianist and professor Anna Petrova. Prior teachers are Lyn Bronson of Carmel, California, Emilio del Rosario (Music Institute of Chicago), and Stephen Perry (Interlochen Arts Academy). Diana is excited to share her love for piano with you this evening.
Feel free to chat with her afterwards. Connecting over music is fun!
These experiences were exhilarating for Diana, but she also loved the sciences. So she studied at the University of Chicago (Chemistry, B.S.) and Yale School of Public Health (Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, M.P.H.) and followed this up with a decade-long career at Humana (Director of Population Health Analytics).
After getting married, having three young cute children (ages 9, 7, and 4), and turning 40, Diana finally had some time for reflection and strategic thinking. So, in the fall of 2023, she decided to go back to the world she dearly missed and longed for - the world of piano! Diana now studies as an amateur with concert pianist and professor Anna Petrova. Prior teachers are Lyn Bronson of Carmel, California, Emilio del Rosario (Music Institute of Chicago), and Stephen Perry (Interlochen Arts Academy). Diana is excited to share her love for piano with you this evening.
Feel free to chat with her afterwards. Connecting over music is fun!
Jonathan Dandrow
Cincinnati, OH
While briefly taking Suzuki lessons during middle school, it was at age 16 that Jonathan truly fell in love with piano after hearing a Bernstein performance of Rhapsody in Blue on the radio. Inspired, he asked his very surprised parents for a piano for his birthday and after two years of intense study under Irina Zayaruzny (Cheshire, CT) Jonathan was accepted into the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. His audition repertoire was the first prelude and fugue, Beethoven sonata, and Chopin etude he ever learned.
While studying there he met Dr. Polina Bespalko (student of Nikolai Petrov) when she gave a substitute lesson for his teacher; this lesson profoundly changed Jonathan’s perspective on piano and he left CCM to study with her at Xavier University. During college, Jonathan invented and patented a consumer electronics product which he founded a business on. While developing the business into a venture-backed, full-stack signals intelligence company, Jonathan stepped away from piano due to burnout and time constraints. Today the business employs 30 people, its products are sold around the world, and Jonathan has his sixth patent pending.
In 2018, he realized how much he missed making music and returned to the instrument after almost a decade to prepare for Piano Texas. While there, he won the concerto competition and performed the 2nd movement of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Ft. Worth Symphony orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. In late 2024, Jonathan resumed regular lessons under a new teacher, Dr. Anna Petrova. Music is something that centers his life, and he is grateful for all opportunities to share and explore it with others that are also moved by it.
While studying there he met Dr. Polina Bespalko (student of Nikolai Petrov) when she gave a substitute lesson for his teacher; this lesson profoundly changed Jonathan’s perspective on piano and he left CCM to study with her at Xavier University. During college, Jonathan invented and patented a consumer electronics product which he founded a business on. While developing the business into a venture-backed, full-stack signals intelligence company, Jonathan stepped away from piano due to burnout and time constraints. Today the business employs 30 people, its products are sold around the world, and Jonathan has his sixth patent pending.
In 2018, he realized how much he missed making music and returned to the instrument after almost a decade to prepare for Piano Texas. While there, he won the concerto competition and performed the 2nd movement of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Ft. Worth Symphony orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. In late 2024, Jonathan resumed regular lessons under a new teacher, Dr. Anna Petrova. Music is something that centers his life, and he is grateful for all opportunities to share and explore it with others that are also moved by it.
Schedule & Program
6:00 PM - Arrival, drinks, snacks
6:30 PM - Playing begins
7:00 PM - Intermission
7:15 PM - Second Half
7:45 PM - Finish off the wine!
6:30 PM - Playing begins
7:00 PM - Intermission
7:15 PM - Second Half
7:45 PM - Finish off the wine!
Program
DIANA CUSANO
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 27, no. 1 "Quasi una fantasia" Ludwig van Beethoven
I. Andante - Allegro - Andante
II. Allegro molto e vivace
III. Adagio con espressione,
Preludes, Op. 13 Sergei Rachmaninoff
No. 5, G-major
No. 12, G-sharp minor
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 11 in A minor, S.244 Franz Liszt
INTERMISSION
JONATHAN DANDROW
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2 Johannes Brahms
Preludes Aleksander Scriabin
Op. 11, No. 11 in B major
Op. 16, No. 1 in B major
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Sergei Rachmaninoff
III. Allegro scherzando
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 27, no. 1 "Quasi una fantasia" Ludwig van Beethoven
I. Andante - Allegro - Andante
II. Allegro molto e vivace
III. Adagio con espressione,
Preludes, Op. 13 Sergei Rachmaninoff
No. 5, G-major
No. 12, G-sharp minor
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 11 in A minor, S.244 Franz Liszt
INTERMISSION
JONATHAN DANDROW
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2 Johannes Brahms
Preludes Aleksander Scriabin
Op. 11, No. 11 in B major
Op. 16, No. 1 in B major
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Sergei Rachmaninoff
III. Allegro scherzando