Laura Spitzer
Laura Spitzer is a Steinway artist who has performed under contract with Columbia Artist’s Community Concert Association and Canada’s Festival Concert Society, and was the recipient of four touring grants from the Nevada State Council on the Arts and the Nevada Humanities Committee.
From 1984 to 2003 Spitzer traveled with her Steinway grand packed into her truck, 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 major television networks and in such publications as People, Time, Reader’s Digest, Mother Earth News, The New York Times and Clavier.
Laura Spitzer attended Oberlin Conservatory, and completed her undergraduate studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where she was awarded the Bösendorfer Stipend and graduated with distinction. She performed frequently as a member of the Austrian Ensemble for New Music, and recorded numerous programs for Austrian Radio.
After taking first prize at the Kurt Leimer Competition, she earned her MM at the Peabody Institute and her DMA from the University of Southern California. Her principal teachers have been Walton Ball, Hans Leygraf, Leon Fleisher, and John Perry. As an adjunct instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she recorded, performed, and toured with the Las Vegas Chamber Players, and performed several times with the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra.
In 2000 Dr. Spitzer joined the faculty at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where she serves as piano area coordinator and teaches piano and piano-related subjects as well as chamber music, music history, and form and analysis. She has also spearheaded courses in practice methods and wellness for music majors. Many of her piano students have gone on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees at distinguished institutions, and enjoy teaching and performing careers of their own.
Television Features, 1990-91
ABC News, 1990
The West (3:06), 1991
NBC Sunday Today: Our Town (9:32), 1991
Laura Spitzer 