Megan Lanz (She/Her)

Biography

"The effect of Lanz's performance was breathtaking... tremendous skill... dazzlingly brilliant..."
- Santa Barbara News Press -

Dr. Megan Lanz (Miyazawa Performing Artist and Trevor James Low Flutes Artist) teaches, coaches, and performs as a solo artist and chamber musician. She finds great joy and fulfillment in helping students make the connection between the multi-faceted components of playing an instrument. Her holistic performance and pedagogical approaches encompass all physical, mental, and emotional components of being a human musician.

Dr. Lanz has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with great artists such as Andrea Bocelli, The Who, Stephen Hough, David Foster, Natalie Merchant, Time For Three, Charles Yang, Jackie Evancho, Celtic Woman, Hillary Hahn, and Edgar Meyer. She has performed with a variety of ensembles and productions, including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (under Andrew Litton and Peter Oundjian), Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Crested Butte Music Festival Orchestra, Opera Steamboat, Las Vegas Philharmonic, the first national tour of Wicked, Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, and Disney’s The Lion King.

She regularly finds inspiration in connecting with composers to commission and premier new works. Her most recent (2023) commissions include a work by Canadian composer Frank Horvat for bassoon and flute (funded by a New Music USA grant award) and Mask by CSU colleague Kevin Poelking. Additionally, she commissioned and premiered Unbroken for flute and piano by Professor Poelking in April 2022. This performance has earned Dr. Lanz a finalist position in the 2023 American Prize Professional Instrumental Soloist competition. (For a more complete list of commissions and premieres, click here.) Her admiration for new music goes back to her graduate degree, as her doctoral research focused on Salvatore Sciarrino and his attempt to use instruments to imitate sounds we might normally disregard in our daily lives. The resulting research document, a style analysis and performance companion to his collection L'opera per flauto, was published in 2010 and is available here.

In addition to instructing at Colorado State University, she maintains an active private flute studio. Her students are members of Colorado's All-State Ensemble, the University of Northern Colorado High School Honor Band, the Colorado State University High School Honor Band, and the University of Colorado High School Honor Band. Dr. Lanz's students have continued on to perform with professional ensembles, including the Pershing's Own, American Youth Symphony, and Music Academy of the West. Her former students attend the Interlochen Arts Academy, The Colburn School, University of North Texas College of Music, and various other colleges and universities.

On campus at Colorado State University, Dr. Lanz serves on the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Advisory Committee, is the Faculty Advisor for the Planned Parenthood Generation student organization, and is active as a volunteer for Visible Voices discussion panels through the Pride Resource Center.

She is associated with a variety of professional organizations, including the National Flute Association and the American Federation of Musicians (Local 20-623, Denver). She is also a member of the Colorado Flute Association, Golden Key Honor Society and the Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma Honor Societies. She has recorded on the GIA, Klavier, and Mark Custom record labels, plays a 14k gold Miyazawa flute, Hammig piccolo, and Trevor James alto and bass flutes.

Selected Performance videos