I am pianist Mary Cota, and it has been my pleasure to serve the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix since 2014.  I have always enjoyed how welcoming and encouraging the UUCP community has been.  I always say that playing for UUCP has been my only constant in the years since I moved to Arizona, and I think that is because it is a great place to be! 

I began playing piano at the age of eight, and at age eleven, moved to Birmingham, AL, to live and study more seriously at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.  I practiced diligently and participated in competitions, as is typical for young, serious classical pianists.  In high school, I began playing for the school choir and also participated and placed in the Music Teachers National Association Duet Competition with my good friend.  After this, I was very interested in the collaborative piano route.

After high school, I received my Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Houston under the tutelage of Nancy Weems.  I received my Masters and Doctor of Collaborative Piano from ASU under the tutelage of Dr. Andrew Campbell.  During my masters, I met my now-husband, Frank.  We have two wonderful children—Aaron, born in 2017, and Chloe Sophia, born in December 2020.