Lara Saldanha
Pianist
Bio
Pianist Lara Saldanha has been praised for her versatility, fresh programming, and communicative gifts as both a performer and teacher. Lara is equally at home as a soloist and collaborator in the worlds of new music, standard repertoire, and historical performance. Lara did significant research and performances in all three areas during her doctoral work at Stony Brook University, which she completed in 2023. She is currently a Collaborative Piano Fellow at Bard Conservatory.
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Lara's 2024 season included appearances with Kollective366 in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Princeton Sound Kitchen, with Metropolis Ensemble, Dellarte Opera, and an appearance at Carnegie's Weill Hall. Past performance highlights include playing Pierrot Lunaire in 2019 and soloing in Vijay Iyer’s Rites of Holi in 2018 with the Mannes American Composers Ensemble, soloing in Saint Saen’s Carnival of the Animals with the Texas Festival Orchestra in 2018, performing Joan Tower’s Black Topaz for the composer at the Round Top Festival Institute, and two concert tours of India in 2017-2018, among many others.
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Lara is a committed music educator; she has taught at Mannes, Stony Brook, and Bard has a thriving private studio in New York City. Lara is passionate about making concerts accessible to all, and frequently gives lecture-recitals at community centers, schools, and homes. She has been a frequent performer at Groupmuse house concerts since 2016 and DOROT since 2018. Lara’s teachers include Christina Dahl at Stony Brook (D.M.A.,) Vladimir Valjarevic at Mannes (P.D.P.L. and M.M.,) Alan Chow at Northwestern (B.M./B.A.,) Serguei Milstein at the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Switzerland, Inna Terekhov, and Neya Korsantia.
Winter/Spring 2025 Performances
February 11, 7 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Masterclass for Sholto Kynoch. Schubert Ganymede with Benjamin Truncate, tenor.
February 28, 2 p.m.
Olin Hall, Bard College
Harpsichord continuo for Bach Oboe Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056
March 2, 4 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Bard College Conservatory Kurtag Festival. Works by Schubert with Georgia Perdikoulias, soprano
March 13, 7:30 p.m.
Staller Recital Hall, Stony Brook University
Recital with Caitlin McKechney, mezzo-soprano. Works by Schumann and Argento
March 17, 2 p.m.
DOROT, 171 W. 85th St., NYC
Recital with Michael Celentano, tenor. Works by Beethoven and Britten
March 23, 2 p.m
Actor's Fund, Englewood, NJ
Recital with Michael Celentano, tenor. Works by Beethoven and Britten
April 13, 1 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Recital with Rowan Swain, viola. Works by Schubert and Hindemith.
April 13, 1 p.m.
April 20, 1 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Recital with Samantha Rehorst, viola. Works by Shostakovich.
Recital with Tori Conner, oboe. Works by A. Morris​
May 4, 1 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Recital with Tori Conner, oboe. Works by A. Morris​
May 11, 1 p.m.
Bard Conservatory Performance Space
Recital with Georgia Perdikoulias, soprano. Works by K. Rekleitis, Haydn, J. Hall, R. Strauss.
Alban Berg, Sonata op. 1
Beethoven, Sonata no. 9 in A major op. 47, mvt. I
Do not believe it, friend Rachmaninoff
Press
An Advocate for Music Education
Lara Saldanha: Passionate About Using Music for Social Causes
Article by Luis Dias
Published in Navhing Times, January 2018
Republished on the author's blog
Music for a Cause
Love and the Pilgrimage to Petrarch
Coming Back to Her Roots
Pianists Shin, Saldanha Love Learning at BMC
Published in the Transylvania Times, August 2010
Teaching
Lara considers teaching and performing to be symbiotic halves of her craft. She has been teaching pre-college students for a decade and post-secondary students for five years. Her NYC private studio has a waitlist and she has taught at Mannes, Stony Brook, and Bard.
Lara believes that music lessons can an invaluable contribution to the development of a young person. Her pedagogy emphasizes teaching the process of craft, which can be applied to any disciple: deliberate practice, analytical thinking, good listening, time management, persistence, confidence, and public presentation. She prioritizes building music literacy early on, so the student has agency over their own learning process. Even the youngest student will start to build skills in reading rhythm, notes, and expressive notation. She value regular public performance both because it builds structure and motivation into lessons, and it provides a platform for even the youngest learner to experience public “speaking.” Her goal is to instill a curiosity for music that the student will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
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As part of their learning process, Lara's students participate in monthly studio classes and in-person recitals. Studio accomplishments include performances at Carnegie's Weill Hall, admission to Luzerne Music Center and the Met Opera Children's Chorus, and passing over 60 Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations.
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For more information about private lessons, please see the studio policy document below.
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