Music Member Profile
Elizabeth Lauer
Elizabeth Lauer is a long-time member of NLAPW: first, in Connecticut, and—since 2005—in New Mexico, the Yucca Branch. She has performed at several Biennials (Washington, Denver, Boston, San Francisco). Her works have won many prizes in the NLAPW composition competition, most notably consecutive First Prizes in the last five Biennials. The most recent of these (2010), “Carousel,” will be heard at the upcoming Biennial: Mrs. Lauer will perform the 14-minute piece at the Music Luncheon; she will give a workshop about how she composed it.
Elizabeth Lauer, Music and Letters Member, Yucca Branch, NM
The listing of Elizabeth Lauer’s compositions—many are recorded and published—includes works for solo instruments, voice and voices, chamber groups, combinations of voices and instruments, theatre pieces, music for dance, an opera, and orchestral pieces. She practices the art of arranging, and in recent years, has adapted some of her own works for new groupings. Mrs. Lauer’s education comprises studies at Bennington College (BA) and Columbia University (MA), all six years on full scholarship. She was chosen to be a Fulbright Scholar to Germany, where she worked for one and one-half years with Phillip Jarnach, Director of the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg.
On her return to New York City , Mrs. Lauer found work as a typist for Columbia Records; five months later, she was assigned to be executive secretary to the president of the company, the late Goddard Lieberson. She was soon promoted to being his assistant, with duties that included producing musical theatre recordings, editing recordings, auditioning incoming musical comedies and plays. Five years later, she was named an Associate Producer in the Masterworks Department. During this time, she composed an opera, a ballet score, and a large work for solo piano, string ensemble, and timpani.
After marriage to Louis Lauer and the birth of three children, plus a move to Connecticut,Mrs. Lauer continued to compose; she also took on the serious pursuit of becoming a performing pianist, as recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral pianist. She added teaching to her activities, both in her studio (piano and chamber music) and outside (universities, schools, adult education). The composer developed a series of programs of performance/discussions, and she has frequently been engaged for assignments as judge, critic, and program annotator.
