Lara Driscoll, M.M.

Instructor of Piano

A Chicago native of French-American descent, pianist Lara Driscoll has been praised for her “captivating style and uncluttered finesse” (CKVL-FM, Montreal). Downbeat’s Suzanne Lorge noted the “understated arrangements and meltingly delicious voicings” of Lara’s trio debut Woven Dreams, which features original compositions and arrangements documented while living in Montreal. After earning her Bachelor’s in Jazz Piano from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she went on to graduate with a Master’s in Jazz Performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music on scholarship under the tutelage of Jan Jarcyzk. She also taught jazz piano and jazz theory at McGill before her current faculty position at Loyola University, Chicago. She has received the Luminarts Graduate Jazz Composition, Performance and People’s Choice awards, and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, Rex Jazz and Blues Bar, Upstairs Jazz Bar, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and more. She is busy as a freelance pianist in the Chicago area, and in addition to her trio and the Firm Roots Duo (debut album Firm Roots), she can be heard as pianist and arranger on vocalist Nancy Lane’s Let Me Love You, as well as on recordings by the groups Bossa Nuevo and Tango Espejo. Chicago Jazz Magazine said Woven Dreams is “a superb first statement from a talented musician who, so early in her career, has developed her own singular sound." Lucid Culture described Driscoll’s “painterly approach,” and the Whole Note (Toronto) said she “imparts an extraordinary bigness to this music that most pianists would die to achieve.” www.laradriscoll.com 

Education

M.M. Jazz Piano Performance, McGill University

B.M. Jazz Piano Performance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign