Lana Bode is an American-British pianist, programmer and artistic director, highly acclaimed for her performances of contemporary music and innovative cross-arts programming. She performs as a solo pianist and in collaboration with leading singers and instrumentalists including Robert Cohen, Marcus Farnsworth, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Anna Harvey, Robert Murray, Mark Padmore, Lucy Schaufer and James Turnbull.
Born in California, Lana began her studies in new music and extended techniques with Lisa Emenheiser in Washington, D.C. She studied for a BMus with Edward Auer at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, graduating with High Distinction and the Founders Scholar Award. She studied piano accompaniment with Andrew West and contemporary piano with Rolf Hind at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, also receiving instruction from Julius Drake, Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside. Her final recital was awarded the coveted Concert Recital Diploma, and she received her MMus with Distinction. Following a two-year accompaniment fellowship at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, Lana has now joined the faculty of the GSMD, where she leads postgraduate discussion groups and directs the Voiceworks contemporary song project.
Lana was the inaugural winner of the Viola Tunnard Young Artist award, resulting in a year-long residency at Snape Maltings under the mentorship of Roger Vignoles. Other prizes include Das Lied (finalist), Oxford Lieder Young Artist programme (finalist), Wigmore Hall Song Competition (semi-finalist), YCAT (semi-finalist) and the Paul Hamburger Prize for Song Accompaniment.
A champion of new music, Lana is well-versed in extended techniques for the piano. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Virginia Woolf & Music concert project, through which she has commissioned and premiered a number of new works. She frequently collaborates with leading composers including Alison Bauld, Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Dove, Sadie Harrison and Judith Weir.
Lana’s recital career has taken her from major London venues to festivals around the UK including Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, Purcell Room, Snape Proms, St James Piccadilly and St Martin-in-the-Fields. In August 2019 she released her highly-acclaimed debut album I and Silence: Women’s Voices in American Song with mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons.
