Coco Bender

Coco Bender is a pianist from Eugene, Oregon. She has premiered solo piano and collaborative works by composers Christina Rusnak, Paul Safar, Dave Bender, and Oswald Huynh and tours the Pacific Northwest as a recitalist. She is a founding member of The Grapefruits piano and horn duo, with hornist Margarite Waddell, principal horn Eugene Symphony Orchestra. The Grapefruits regularly present commissioned original works along with classical horn and piano repertoire. When she is not performing, Coco teaches a large studio of piano students from ages six to eighty-one!

Ms. Bender graduated with a Masters of Music in Piano Performance and Injury Preventive Technique with Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink, from Salem College Winston-Salem, North Carolina, this past May 2026. She received her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, with a concentration in Piano Performance from Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon with Dr. Susan Dewitt Smith. Post-bachelor’s, Coco studied with Dr. Thomas Otten, who retrained her in the Lister-Sink Method. She currently studies with Dr. Dimitri Shteinberg at University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Additionally, she has taken master classes from Inna Faliks, Tamara Stefanovich, William Chapman Nayho, among others. Coco is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.