A native Montrealer, Laura Fenster graduated from the Quebec Conservatory of Music at the age of fourteen with a First Prize in the Piano Concours. Herteachers were Yvonne Hubert and Philip Cohen who has remained her mentor to the present day. She subsequently obtained a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California at Los Angeles, a Master of Music from the University of Southern California, and more recently, the Diploma in Advanced Music Performance Studies from Concordia University, where she was awarded the Philip Cohen Prize.
Ms. Fenster has performed on stage, television and radio in the U.S., Canada and Asia in solo recital and the ensemble repertoire. Her appearances include: two performances with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal under Wilfrid Pelletier; three tours of Taiwan; live broadcast recitals as soloist and accompanist in the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series; a solo recital (as Allied Arts Laureate) to unanimous critical acclaim in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall; the Chicago premiere (in Orchestra Hall) of Olivier Messiaen’s monumental Visions of Amen which she shared with her duo-piano partner, Martha Faulhaber. Ms. Fenster regularly appears in solo and ensemble concerts in Chicago and the surrounding area. These include the University of Chicago, Sherwood Conservatory of Music, the Blackstone Public Library, and Pianoforte Chicago.
Until recently Laura Fenster taught at the American Conservatory of Music and at Sherwood Conservatory of Music, as well as privately in Hyde Park.
You can listen to some of Laura’s performances at Pianoforte Chicago‘s 2008 Schubertiade.
Member:
- Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
- Chicago Area Music Teachers Assn (CAMTA )
- Co-founder of Hyde Park Piano Seminar and Friends
- Co-founder of Music Teachers of Hyde Park (MTHP)
- MTHP.org web master