Laura Loewen

Praised for expressivity, virtuosity, and committed playing, Canadian collaborative pianist Dr. Laura Loewen has appeared in concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America. In addition to her work as the Desautels Faculty of Music's Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Dr. Loewen is an associate professor collaborative piano and a vocal coach. Dr. Loewen is also a founding faculty artist and the current Board chair of VISI (Vancouver International Song Institute), and is a long-time member of the faculty of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton, Alberta.

  • In the faculty

    • Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs
    • Professor, Collaborative Piano
    • Diction Studies (French, German, Italian, and English)
    • Vocal Coach

Education

  • BMus, Brandon University
  • MMus, McGill University
  • DMA, University of Minnesota

Performance highlights

An extremely versatile pianist, Dr. Loewen has performed extensively with singers, instrumentalists, and chamber ensembles, and is equally comfortable in traditional and contemporary idioms. She has appeared in concert with artists such as Charles Castleman, Tracy Dahl, Monica Huisman, Mel Braun, Wendy Nielsen, Kimberly Barber, Jasper Wood, Eugene Rousseau, and William Bennett. She is proud to perform regularly with many of her fellow University of Manitoba faculty members. Dr. Loewen and duo partner, saxophonist Allen Harrington, have been performing together for more than a decade and are acclaimed for their virtuosic, musical, and electrifying performances. Dr. Loewen is also a founding member of two trios: The Galileo Trio with Kerry duWors; violin, and Mark Rudoff; cello, (“an enlightened idea” – Winnipeg Free Press), as well as Emerado with Rosemarie van der Hooft; mezzo-soprano, and Mel Braun; baritone (“true camaraderie and rapport” – Winnipeg Free Press).

Awards

A member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College, Dr. Loewen has received several grants and awards, including the Rh Award for Creative Work; University of Manitoba, Creative Works Grants; University of Manitoba, and various other grants for commissioning Canadian compositions through the Canada Council for the Arts and Manitoba Arts Council.

Ongoing research and creative works

Dr. Loewen is a founding faculty artist and the current Board chair of VISI (Vancouver International Song Institute), and is a long-time member of the faculty of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2020, with Dr. Judith Kehler Siebert, Dr. Loewen co-founded Dream Big: Music Out of Bounds, a three-day conference dedicated to celebrating the contributions, creativity, and innovation that collaborative pianists bring to music performance and pedagogy.