Felipe Lara

Felipe Lara was born in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1979. His music has been recently described as "a gifted Brazilian-American modernist” and "Brilliant” by the New York Times. His works have been recently performed in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxemburg, Switzerland, and the United States by ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet, Camerata Aberta, Duo Diorama, Ensemble Recherche, Ex Novo Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, London Sinfonietta, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Hilversum (Peter Eötvös), Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. His work has been presented at Acanthes (France), Ars Musica (Belgium), Darmstadt (Germany), Donaueschinger Musiktage (Germany), Europalia (Belgium), Festival for Contemporary Music (Tanglewood), Festival Música Nova (São Paulo), Luxembourg Philharmonie, and Teatro La Fenice (Venice). His second string quartet Tran(slate) was the winner of the 2008 Staubach Preis in Darmstadt, after the premier performance by the Arditti Quartet with the live-electronics of the Experimentalstudio SWR Freiburg. Two CDs including performances of Lara’s music by the Arditti Quartet, Duo Diorama, and Percorso Ensemble, were released in Brazil in the Fall of 2008. Current projects include commissions by São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Choir (OSESP), Ensemble Recherche (Germany), and the Fromm Foundation (Harvard University). Lara is currently a PhD candidate at New York University (GSAS) where he studied with Louis Karchin, Elizabeth Hoffman, and Mario Davidovsky. Additional studies in composition, computer-music, and orchestration with Tristan Murail at Columbia University, as well as lessons with Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Helmut Lachenmann, Marco Stroppa, Michael Jarrell, Wolfgang Rihm, and Yan Maresz. Lara teaches at New York University and lives in the New York City area.