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Professor of Piano Thomas Lanners has appeared as a solo and collaborative pianist and clinician throughout the U.S. and abroad, presenting his New York solo debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2004. His performances have been broadcast nationally and internationally on programs such as National Public Radio’s Performance Today and RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Miscellany in Ireland, among many others. He currently serves as a Professor of Piano at Oklahoma State University. Lanners’ latest recording, Ned Rorem: Piano Works, Volume 2, was released worldwide by Centaur Records in 2009. The disc has received much critical praise, including the following from respected critic Donald Rosenberg’s review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The piano pieces on this fine recording attest to Rorem’s penchant for lyrical and dramatic contrast. … Thomas Lanners brings exceptional detail and urgency to the repertoire, taking as much care with inner voices as he does with arching statements. Grade: A.” Thomas’ previous CD, Ned Rorem: The Three Piano Sonatas, was released by Centaur in 2007. Mark Lehman, in an American Record Guide review, wrote: “It’s especially pleasing to have all three of Rorem’s sonatas on one disc, superbly played by Thomas Lanners, and in clear, vivid sound. … Anyone who cares about mainstream 20th Century piano music should seek out this superlative recording.” Thomas was awarded a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording in New York to record these works by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. In a review of his 2005 release, Touches of Bernstein: The Complete Published Piano Music of Leonard Bernstein, critic Jed Distler wrote for ClassicsToday.com: "Thomas Lanners totally understands this music, pointing up the jazzy qualities to idiomatic perfection as well as projecting Bernstein’s lyrical generosity without milking it … All told, Lanners' loving mastery easily holds its own in any company. Warmly recommended." Lanners taught a master class and numerous lessons, and presented two lectures as a guest artist during a one-week residency at the Eastman School of Music in September 2008. He also presented two sessions at Eastman’s Summer Chamber Music Institute in 2007, and taught master classes in 2009 at the Universities of Colorado in Boulder and Northern Colorado in Greeley. Lanners taught a master class for vocal and piano duos and collaborated with tenor Richard Novak in a recital at George Mason University in 2009 as well. Among recent solo performances, Thomas played in 2007 on the Pianistes à la Maison du Peuple series at the Centre Culturel Jacques Franck in Brussels, and at the Rode Pomp in Gent, Belgium. He also played a recital to conclude “American Music Week” at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas that was broadcast live worldwide on WSUiR, the university’s Internet radio station. In 2007 he performed on the Classical Mondays recital series in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, the city’s preeminent recital venue, and he was a guest artist on a recital series at the University of Western Ontario in Canada in 2006.
Lanners received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Barry Snyder, after earning his Bachelor of Music degree at Florida State University as a student of Leonidas Lipovetsky. He also studied under John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival and Jerome Lowenthal at the Music Academy of the West, and has performed in master classes for such renowned artists as Pascal Devoyon, Jeffrey Kahane, Dominique Merlet, Anton Nel, Cécile Ousset and Nelita True. Professional activities for the 2005-2006 academic year included a recital and lecture at the University of North Texas; performing a chamber music recital at the OK Mozart International Festival; collaborating with tenor Richard Novak in a recital at the University of North Texas; adjudicating for the Texas Music Teachers Association’s District 4 piano competitions in Dallas; presenting a recital and lecture as the conference artist for the East District Conference of the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association; playing a solo recital at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond; and presenting a master class at the Amadeus Piano Festival in Tulsa. Since 2001, Thomas has played solo recitals at Northwestern, Syracuse, Louisiana State, Wichita State and Baylor Universities, the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, the Universities of Western Ontario in Canada, Northern Iowa, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. He presented a lecture and recital as the conference artist for the OMTA West District Conference in 2004, and gave a lecture-recital and master class (encompassing both solo and collaborative piano literature) at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2005. In 2003 he performed with Walfrid Kujala, Northwestern University professor of flute and former Chicago Symphony flutist, Richard MacDowell, professor of clarinet at the University of Texas at Austin, and Nancy Ambrose King, professor of oboe at the University of Michigan. He also collaborated with Leone Buyse, professor of flute at Rice University and former Principal Flutist, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops, and with Swedish clarinetist Hakan Rosengren in 2001. Thomas performed as both a soloist and chamber musician at the Universities of Iowa, Wichita State, Iowa State, and Missouri-Columbia in 2000. One of Dr. Lanners' former OSU students worked for several years at the Juilliard School of Music as an Associate Opera Coach until 2007, and other former students have been accepted into graduate piano performance degree programs at the Universities of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Southern California, Kansas, Missouri-Kansas City, and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. They have had success in state and regional competitions, winning both OMTA competitions (including first place winners in 2006, 2005 and 2003) and MTNA Collegiate Artist honors. From 2002 through 2006 he served as College Faculty Forum chair for the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, representing on the OMTA Board all collegiate music faculty in the state and acting as the organization’s liaison to MTNA.
Hear Thomas Lanners Perform:J. S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue No. 11 in F major (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2)
Cleveland Plain Dealer June 21, 2009 review of “Ned Rorem: Piano Works, Vol. 2” St. Petersburg Times May 3rd, 2009 review of “Ned Rorem: Piano Works, Vol. 2”
See Thomas Lanners Teach:Dr. Lanners Teaching Student Rachel Flynn (video)
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Thomas presented a lecture-recital at the 2009 Music Teachers National Association conference in Atlanta, having also presented sessions at the 2005 conference in Seattle and the 2001 conference in Washington, D.C. He also gave sessions at the 2008 and 2000 Oklahoma Music Teachers Association conferences. Lanners has adjudicated at MTNA’s West Central Division piano competitions in 2006, South Central Division competitions in 2002, the Eastman School of Music’s International Piano Competition for High School Students in 2000, and at numerous Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas Music Teachers Association competitions. His feature articles have been published in American Music Teacher and Clavier magazines, with another feature article due to be published in AMT, the refereed journal of the Music Teachers National Association, in 2010.
