Associate Professor of Music
Luciana Soares is Associate Professor of Music at Nicholls State University, where she teaches applied piano, accompanying, and music theory courses. A winner of many awards in both the United States and her native Brazil, she performs frequently as soloist and collaborative pianist at concert halls throughout the two countries. She began her early musical training in the school of pianist Belkiss Spenzièri Carneiro de Mendonça, and was later a student of Caio Pagano at Arizona State University and Mary Ann Stringer at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In addition to teaching and performing a variety of repertoires ranging from Baroque to contemporary, Soares is strongly devoted to promoting the music of Brazil. Her accomplishments as a researcher and performer have taken her to presenting lectures and recitals of Brazilian music at universities, concert series and conferences throughout the United States. Her solo recording, Brasileira: Piano Music by Brazilian Women has been released on Centaur Records and is available worldwide. In 2010 she served on the faculty of the Campina Grande International Music Festival and was featured as a guest clinician and recitalist at the Brasileiro Festival in New Orleans.
A dedicated chamber musician and advocate of new music, Soares frequently collaborates with artists in the South and has given world premieres of numerous works. As a member of the Alexander-Soares Duo, in residence at Nicholls, she has performed in Brazil, United States, Austria, and England, being featured in such venues as the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C. and the Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro. The duo has been praised for their “brilliant performance, marked by technical refinement, sense of ensemble, and sophisticated interpretation” (O Norte, João Pessoa, Brazil), and will be soon releasing a CD on Centaur Records featuring the sonatas for violin and piano by the Brazilian composer Liduino Pitombeira. Highlights of the ensemble’s recent engagements in Brazil include guest recitals at the Série Sala Cecilia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro and the 32nd Curso Internacional de Verão de Brasilia, as well as recitals, lectures and masterclasses at universities and conservatories in Recife, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Belo Horizonte. In Europe, the Duo performed at the University of Chichester (England) and the Landeskonservatorium (Austria).
Dr. Soares is recipient of the 2009 Marie Fletcher Distinguished Service Award presented by the Nicholls Alumni Federation, and the Nicholls State University’s Academic Council Salutes award. She is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the College Music Society.
Education:
B.M., Federal University of Goiás; M.M., Arizona State University; D.M.A., University of Southern Mississippi
Courses taught:
MUS 105 — Music Appreciation
MUS 217, 218 — Solfege-Ear Training
MUS 306 — Piano Accompanying
MUS 323 — Analysis
MUS 376 — Keyboard Literature
Performance Courses:
MUS 161, 162, 171, 172, 261, 262, 271, 272, 371, 372, 400, 471, 472
Contact information:
274 Talbot Hall
Phone: 985.448.4611
E-mail: luciana.soares@nicholls.edu
