Who am I?
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Lara Villanueva is a Maryland-based audio engineer and multi-instrumental musician. Originally from the northern suburbs of New York City, Lara is currently at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University going into her fourth year of the five-year B.M.R.A. program, working on both her bachelor’s degree in Bassoon Performance and her bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts and Sciences. During her collegiate studies, she intends to add on a master’s degree in Acoustical Studies and a Directed Studies minor in Mathematics.
Music has been a part of Lara's life as long as she can remember. From recorder to violin to piano to bassoon and back to recorder, she enjoys the constant of music within her life throughout the years. Lara has refused to define her musicianship to one singular instrument or one specific time period. She has instead defined her role as a musician within a sense of community and collaboration, focusing on creation of art and bolstering camaraderie instead of competition.
As a performer, Lara has proven herself to be resilient and reliable. Her formative years in the outskirts of the Big Apple shaped her growth as a musician, participating in many community and professional theatre productions. As such, she holds a deep love for theatrical musical productions, whether they are traditionally operatic or multi-disciplinary. Though majoring in bassoon performance, she plays piano with equivalent fluency, and woodwind doubles.
Music has been a part of Lara's life as long as she can remember. From recorder to violin to piano to bassoon and back to recorder, she enjoys the constant of music within her life throughout the years. Lara has refused to define her musicianship to one singular instrument or one specific time period. She has instead defined her role as a musician within a sense of community and collaboration, focusing on creation of art and bolstering camaraderie instead of competition.
As a performer, Lara has proven herself to be resilient and reliable. Her formative years in the outskirts of the Big Apple shaped her growth as a musician, participating in many community and professional theatre productions. As such, she holds a deep love for theatrical musical productions, whether they are traditionally operatic or multi-disciplinary. Though majoring in bassoon performance, she plays piano with equivalent fluency, and woodwind doubles.
As a bassoonist, she has studied under Diane Lang and Diane Fedora in her pre-college life. Currently, she is in Phillip Kolker's studio at the Peabody Conservatory. As a pianist, she has studied with Patricia Singer and Patricia Graham.
Music and physics are two sides of the same coin, and Lara has always been intrigued by the relationship of sound with spaces. Stemming from that intrigue, she holds an innate curiosity for the impact that sound imprints on the human experience day to day, even in the most mundane of settings. Combined with her love for theatrical productions, she found a beautiful compromise in her intended career path in recording technology and acoustics.
As an audio engineer, Lara has worked on projects primarily within the classical genre, ranging from live recordings in-studio at Peabody to virtual compilations for internet release. In the video realm, she works on the multimedia production team for the Peabody IT department, where she helps run orchestral livestreams on a regular basis and provides video editing services for course creation. She has front-of-house experience from her time as an intern at Keystone Korner, a Baltimorean jazz club, and from working at Peabody Jazz and Modern Orchestra concerts.
With virtual performances taking center stage in 2020, Lara worked on the audio staff of zFestival, a virtual new music festival, and on the staff of MBEIQ (Music, but everybody is quarantined) as an audio engineer and video editor. Her work on these projects has expanded her knowledge of contemporary compositions and modern audio production techniques. Other projects she has worked on were Nebulous Summer (audio engineer), a virtual orchestra playing Holst's "The Planets"; Yappie: A New Musical (video editor); and on Constellation (audio engineer), a virtual ensemble focusing on works by underrepresented composers.
During the Summer of 2021, Lara will be headed to Staunton, Virginia to take up the Multimedia Intern (Audio) Position at Heifetz International Music Institute. She will also be resuming her audio engineer position in zFestival.
Outside of music, Lara enjoys crafting in all forms, baking, rock climbing, and settling down with a good book after a long day.
As an audio engineer, Lara has worked on projects primarily within the classical genre, ranging from live recordings in-studio at Peabody to virtual compilations for internet release. In the video realm, she works on the multimedia production team for the Peabody IT department, where she helps run orchestral livestreams on a regular basis and provides video editing services for course creation. She has front-of-house experience from her time as an intern at Keystone Korner, a Baltimorean jazz club, and from working at Peabody Jazz and Modern Orchestra concerts.
With virtual performances taking center stage in 2020, Lara worked on the audio staff of zFestival, a virtual new music festival, and on the staff of MBEIQ (Music, but everybody is quarantined) as an audio engineer and video editor. Her work on these projects has expanded her knowledge of contemporary compositions and modern audio production techniques. Other projects she has worked on were Nebulous Summer (audio engineer), a virtual orchestra playing Holst's "The Planets"; Yappie: A New Musical (video editor); and on Constellation (audio engineer), a virtual ensemble focusing on works by underrepresented composers.
During the Summer of 2021, Lara will be headed to Staunton, Virginia to take up the Multimedia Intern (Audio) Position at Heifetz International Music Institute. She will also be resuming her audio engineer position in zFestival.
Outside of music, Lara enjoys crafting in all forms, baking, rock climbing, and settling down with a good book after a long day.