Dr. Eli Lara

Assistant Professor of Music
Cello, String Bass, Theory 

Dr. Eli Lara is an Assistant Professor of Music at Austin Peay State University where she teaches cello, bass, music theory, music appreciation, and string methods. She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and a Master of Music in cello performance, as a student of Aldo Parisot and Ole Akahoshi. A recipient of the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship, she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Joel Krosnick. Lara traveled to Prague and Vienna to study the string quartet manuscripts and archival collections of Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff as a winner of the prestigious Richard F. French Prize in support of her doctoral research.

An advocate of both contemporary and chamber music, cellist Eli Lara has performed in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Lara is an extensively accomplished chamber musician, garnering top prizes at the J.C. Arriaga and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions. As a string quartet cellist, she has coached with members of the Brentano, Borromeo, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. She has performed and premiered numerous works of living composers in concerts and festivals including FOCUS! and the Summergarden at the New York Museum of Modern Art. As an orchestral musician, Lara has performed as principal cellist of the Paducah Symphony, World Civic Orchestra, Peabody Sinfonia, Orchestra Insonica, and Yale Collegium Musicum. She is also currently co-principal cellist of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra based in Clarksville, TN. Lara has appeared on National Public Radio, at major venues such as New York's Alice Tully Hall and London's Wigmore Hall, and at festivals including Kneisel Hall, Sarasota, Banff (Canada), and Pablo Casals (France). Lara has taught privately and has also participated in numerous teaching residencies including with the Sinfonia por la Vida in Quito, Ecuador.

Email: LaraE@apsu.edu
Phone: (931) 221-7632
Music/Mass Communication Building, Room 218