Laura Villafranca
Graduate Performance,
The Boston Conservatory
BM, Oberlin Conservatory
Piano
Keyboards
Pianist Laura Villafranca was born in Mexico City in August 1982, where she began playing the piano at age six and studied with Benjamin Valdés. At age fourteen, she moved to Michigan to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy, studying with Victoria Mushkatkol and Stephen Perry. While at Interlochen she received an Honorable Mention in the high school ARTS Competition, won a Fine Arts Award and was selected for the Who’s Who Among American High School Students in 1999. Ms. Villafranca then received her Bachelors Degree in Music from the Oberlin Conservatory, where her teacher was Angela Cheng. While at Oberlin, she received the Dean’s Music Scholarship in each of her four years.
In September 2004, Ms. Villafranca entered The Boston Conservatory as a student of Michael Lewin. In spring 2005 she won the H.Wilfred Churchill Piano Scholarship, earning a full tuition scholarship for this year, and in fall 2005 she won the Chamber Music Honors Competition. In January 2006 she was named Winner of The Boston Conservatory Concerto Competition, where she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra in Harvard‘s Sanders Theatre under conductor Catherine Comet. In October 2006, she won the Silver Medal in Mexico’s National Competition “Angelica Morales-Yamaha” where she played with the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Juan Carlos Lomónaco.
Laura Villafranca has participated in the Killington Music Festival, the Aria International Music Academy in Canada, the Hampden-Sydney Music Festival, and Perugia Music Fest where she performed with the Sinfonia Perusina under conductor Enrico Marconi. She has performed in Master Classes with Ursula Oppens, Anton Kuerti, Jorge Federico Osorio, Bernard Flavigny, Ilana Vered and Arie Vardi. She has performed at the International Gilmore Festival in Michigan, and appeared in recital in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has appeared four times with the Coyoacan Symphonic Orchestra in Mexico, conducted by Miguel Bernal Matus, performing concertos by Haydn and Shostakovich. Ms. Villafranca is currently at The Boston Conservatory in the Graduate Performance Diploma program.
In September 2004, Ms. Villafranca entered The Boston Conservatory as a student of Michael Lewin. In spring 2005 she won the H.Wilfred Churchill Piano Scholarship, earning a full tuition scholarship for this year, and in fall 2005 she won the Chamber Music Honors Competition. In January 2006 she was named Winner of The Boston Conservatory Concerto Competition, where she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra in Harvard‘s Sanders Theatre under conductor Catherine Comet. In October 2006, she won the Silver Medal in Mexico’s National Competition “Angelica Morales-Yamaha” where she played with the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Juan Carlos Lomónaco.
Laura Villafranca has participated in the Killington Music Festival, the Aria International Music Academy in Canada, the Hampden-Sydney Music Festival, and Perugia Music Fest where she performed with the Sinfonia Perusina under conductor Enrico Marconi. She has performed in Master Classes with Ursula Oppens, Anton Kuerti, Jorge Federico Osorio, Bernard Flavigny, Ilana Vered and Arie Vardi. She has performed at the International Gilmore Festival in Michigan, and appeared in recital in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has appeared four times with the Coyoacan Symphonic Orchestra in Mexico, conducted by Miguel Bernal Matus, performing concertos by Haydn and Shostakovich. Ms. Villafranca is currently at The Boston Conservatory in the Graduate Performance Diploma program.