About this Artist
Praised by the New York Times as "a gifted Brazilian-American modernist" whose works are “brilliantly realized,” “technically formidable, wildly varied,” and possess “voluptuous, elemental lyricism,” Lara’s work—which includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, film, electroacoustic, and popular music—has been commissioned by leading soloists, ensembles, and institutions such as the Arditti Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Claire Chase, Conrad Tao, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Duo Diorama, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble Modern, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and also performed by Dirk Kaftan, Ensemble Recherche, Ilan Volkov, JACK Quartet, Karina Canellakis, KNM Berlin, Mivos Quartet, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Hilversum, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Peter Eötvös, Steven Schick, Talea Ensemble, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.
His compositions have been presented by Aspen Music Festival, Acht Brücken Festival (Germany), Aldeburgh Music Festival (UK), Ars Musica (Belgium), Art Institute of Chicago, Aspekte Festival (Austria), Banff, Budapest Music Center, Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, Centre Acanthes (France), Darmstadt, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Frankfurt Musikfest, Huddersfield, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart, New World Center, Philharmonie de Paris, Tanglewood’s Festival for Contemporary Music, and TimeSpans, to name a few.
Lara holds a B.M. in music composition and film scoring from Berklee College of Music, an M.M. in composition from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. from New York University. Lara was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (RI'16). He was formerly Instructor at NYU, Associate Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Visiting Faculty at Harvard's Department of Music, and is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Institute.