Indie songwriters, Lareé Cisco and Michael Aquino will trade songs about love, hurt, aliens, side dishes, Jersey, and everything in between.
Michael Aquino is a Cuba-Rican sound designer, composer, audio engineer, musician, and performer born in Union City, New Jersey.
Aquino’s debut, solo album, Giants Will Fall, was released in October 2015. His follow-up EP, City Stars, was released by Cocotazo Music in October 2017. Aquino received two 2017 Audio Verse Awards for Best Music, Self-Contained Dramatic Production (“Blood Heart” with Ernio Hernandez) and Best Audio Engineering, Self-Contained Comedic Production (Something Inside That Head of Yours) and a 2019 Audio Verse Award for Best Vocal Composition in a New Production (Timestorm). He was also nominated for a 2013 Jersey Acoustic Music Award (Top Male Songwriter category).
He is a co-founder of Cocotazo Media, which produces fiction podcasts, music, and educational audio resources. Michael is the sound designer, composer, and audio engineer for their audio drama series Timestorm. Timestorm is a proud member of TRAX from PRX with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Timestorm is a silver medalist in the 2022 Anthem Awards, winner of a 2021 New Jersey WebFest award, an official honoree of 2020 The Webby Awards, and a winner in the 2019 Audio Verse Awards. Michael also co-produced a benefit album – Stuff This in Yer Face! – with You Don’t Know Jersey. For more about his work with Cocotazo Media visit www.cocotazomedia.com.
Michael is also a professional actor and has performed at regional and NYC stages. He is a co-creator of Mi Casa Tu Casa, a bilingual stage production. Michael is a member of Actors Equity Association.
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Funding for the Madison Holiday Arts Festival is provided by the Madison Downtown Development Commission in association with the Madison Arts and Culture Alliance.
