Megan Lanz

Biography

Miyazawa Performing Artist Megan Lanz (DMA, CMI) performs regularly as an international solo artist and chamber musician. She finds great joy and fulfillment in helping students make the connection between the musical and physical components of playing an instrument. Her holistic performance and pedagogical approaches encompass all physical, mental, and emotional components of being a human musician.

Megan 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.

Megan finds inspiration in connecting with composers and commissioning and premiering 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) which musically explores the various “ghosts” we have in our lives - fears relating to control, trusting, and being enough. Additionally, she commissioned and premiered Unbroken for flute and piano by CSU colleague Kevin Poelking in April 2022. (For a more complete list of commissions and premieres, click here.) This performance has earned Megan a Semi-Finalist position in the 2023 American Prize Professional Instrumental Soloist competition. Megan's doctoral research was centered around modern composer Salvatore Sciarrino and his attempt to use instruments to imitate sounds we might normally disregard in our daily lives. Her 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. Megan'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.

Megan is associated with a variety of professional organizations, including the National Flute Association and the American Federation of Musicians (Local 20-623, Denver). Megan 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 and Klavier record labels, and plays a 14k gold Miyazawa flute, Hammig piccolo, and Trevor James alto and bass flutes.

Selected Performance videos