New teaching studio space!
Group ClassesLaena offers group classes to school-age students in her teaching studio! These classes have recently expanded from monthly to every other week. We often play Suzuki repertoire together, but this holiday season, we recorded this multi-level version of Carol of the Bells:
Class activities include playing pieces together, playing games, performing current solo works for each other, short music theory lessons, listening, and more! |
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Laena is launching her own private teaching studio!
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Shostakovich String Quartet No. 3I was very excited to have the opportunity to record the entirety of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73 with my colleagues at CU Boulder. The quartet is programmatic with interesting subtitles for each movement:
I. Allegretto (Blithe ignorance of the future cataclysm) II. Moderato con moto (Rumblings of unrest and anticipation) III. Allegro non troppo (Forces of war unleashed) IV. Adagio (In memory of the dead) V. Moderato (The eternal question: why? and for what?) |
Last Master's Recital at CU Boulder
Laena presented her last Master of Music recital on April 18th at 2pm! She performed a classic violin work - Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 7 - as well as two fantastic pieces by Black composers that should be classics - Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 1 and Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Sonata.
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Quarantine Cycle for Violin and Electronics
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Florence PriceString Quartet in G majorMy quartet at CU Boulder presented our first performance of Florence Price's String Quartet in G major. We were especially excited to perform and record this piece by a black female composer because it was lost for many decades and has very few recordings.
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First Master's Recital at CU Boulder
Laena livestreamed her first master's recital at the University of Colorado Boulder - a long awaited event after canceling her original program due to the pandemic. She performed with fantastic collaborators Suyeon Kim and Keith Teepen.
Tuxedo by Clarence Cameron White
Tuxedo is No. 18 out of Rachel Barton Pine's beginner violin method book Music by Black Composers Volume 1 and was originally written for violin and piano. I recorded it to highlight one of many underrepresented black composers. #blacklivesmatter
Born in Tennessee, Clarence Cameron White was a child prodigy in violin and composition. He was one of the foremost violinists of his day but struggled to perform since black soloists were not allowed to play with white orchestras. He was successful nonetheless, performing with his pianist wife Beatrice Warrick White. He was best known for composing dramatic works. |
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Quarantine Concerto
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Dissolve, O My Heart
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Senior Violin Recital at TCU
Laena presented her last recital at TCU. She performed a diverse program that featured her violin professor Dr. Adkins, Edward Newman, and Jeremy Averyt.
Women of American Chamber Music
Laena's honors project recital featuring the Uproar String Quartet
Amy Beach Violin Sonata (featuring Edward Newman)
Jennifer Higdon An Exaltation of Larks
Missy Mazzoli Death Valley Junction
Amy Beach Violin Sonata (featuring Edward Newman)
Jennifer Higdon An Exaltation of Larks
Missy Mazzoli Death Valley Junction
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Laena's Junior Violin Recital at TCUNew videos from Laena's Junior Recital "French Sonatas"
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Laena's Doomsday video was posted by BBC America and the official
Doctor Who facebook page! Check out the blog post here
"Or this startlingly accomplished version, by multi-instrumentalist Laena Grace" -Fraser McAlpine
Doctor Who facebook page! Check out the blog post here
"Or this startlingly accomplished version, by multi-instrumentalist Laena Grace" -Fraser McAlpine
Video of my quartet arrangement of an awesome song from a semi-obscure Russian pop star with an amazing voice. Fun times at Music in the Mountains.
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Thanks for a donation in ANY amount to show your support for my music and videos! -Laena Grace
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Copyright © 2013-2023 by Laena Grace