If Stephan Moccio goes down in music history only as the co-writer of the Miley Cyrus smash hit “Wrecking Ball”, it will be a serious understatement of a musical career.

The Grammy and Academy Award-nominated Canadian composer, producer, pianist, arranger and conductor has plenty more strings to his bow.

Stephan Moccio

A classically trained pianist, Moccio wrote the theme for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, co-penned Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come” and has worked with artists as diverse as Sarah Brightman, Avril Lavigne, Seal, Jason Derulo and Jamie Cullum.

Ahead of his first dates in Melbourne and Sydney as a solo pianist, Limelight grabbed a few minutes with the multitalented Moccio to reveal the music moves him to dance, to sing, to tears.

Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings

“It possesses a sad, plaintive, melancholic, beautiful, dark feeling,” says Moccio. “It takes one with a deep understanding of suffering to compose such a piece. And when you hear this suffering painted into sound, harmony and melody, you cannot help but feel like they are...