About Michael Bunny

“Mike has dazzled audiences with his virtuosic performances of intricate progressive pieces.” Jeff Miers, The Buffalo News, Soundcheck: In Buffalo, music making is a family affair Michael Bunny began his life in music playing electric guitar at the age of 13, soon adding other plucked stringed instruments such as bass guitar and classical guitar. His collegiate studies started with distinguished professor James Piorkowski at the State University of New York at Fredonia as a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance. He would go on to pursue his Masters Degree in Guitar Performance, studying with Dr. Stanley Yates at Austin Peay State University, and is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Guitar Performance at the University of South Carolina. He has taught at the university level throughout his master's and doctoral studies, including numerous guitar classes, private lessons, and guitar ensembles. Mr. Bunny has been the recipient of several awards and scholarships, including the Oasis Guitar Jury Prize twice (2016 and 2018), Trinity Guitarist of the Month four times, and was a finalist in the 2023 Southern International Guitar Competition. He was awarded the Isaac Stern String Scholarship in 2018 and the Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Scholarship in 2023. As a performer, Mr. Bunny has toured several times in different chamber groups throughout the East coast of the United States of America, ranging from Rochester, NY, to Baltimore, MD, to New York City. Mr. Bunny has had the opportunity to play in a plethora of different concerts as a soloist as well, including a concert for the legendary guitarist, composer, and conductor Leo Brouwer, playing at the Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York Festival in 2023, and being a member of the Carnegie Lullaby Project for the NPR broadcasting in 2023. As an electric guitarist, Mr. Bunny has played at several major events throughout Western New York with different groups of widely varying styles. He has performed at the Music is Art festival twice with the jazz groups Bulldog Brass (2015) and the French Quarter Hounds (2016). The latter of these was on the Main Stage of the festival. In Rodan Generations, a resurrection of the local progressive rock group from the 1970s, he performed at the Ted Reinhardt Tribute Concert and Buffalo’s First Annual Prog Rock Festival.