Laura Spitzer - piano
lspitzer@nmsu.eduLaura Spitzer is Assistant Professor of Piano at New Mexico State University.
Prior to coming to NMSU in Fall, 2000, she was a touring concert pianist for
16 years. She has performed under contract with the Community Concert Association,
and appeared with symphonies such as the Los Angeles Concordia Orchestra, Eastern
Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, and the Nevada Symphony.
The recipient of four touring grants from the Nevada State Council on the Arts
and the Nevada Humanities Committee, Dr. Spitzer has traveled with her Steinway
grand packed into her truck since 1984, bringing classical music to hundreds
of rural communities and schools throughout the U.S. and western Canada. In
recognition of this contribution, she was honored with the 1986 Nevada Governor's
Arts Award. She has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly
News, NBC Sunday Today, and The West nationwide, and in such publications
as People, Time, Reader's Digest, Mother Earth News, New York Times, Piano
and Keyboard, Clavier, and Overdrive.
Dr. Spitzer attended Oberlin Conservatory for one year, and completed her undergraduate
studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where she was awarded the Bösendorfer
Stipend and graduated with distinction. After touring with the Austrian Ensemble
for New Music, recording numerous programs for Austrian Radio and taking first
prize at the Kurt Leimer Competition, she earned her Master's Degree at the
Peabody Institute. Spitzer holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University
of Southern California, where she served as Assistant Lecturer of Keyboard Studies
and received the department's teaching award in 1991. Her principal teachers
have been Hans Leygraf, Leon Fleisher, and John Perry.
Dr. Spitzer served on the adjunct faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
for five years, and has conducted master classes and workshops at colleges,
conventions, and summer camps throughout the U.S. She teaches each year at the
Idyllwild Arts Summer Program in Idyllwild, California.