Lois Svard

Lois Svard has received critical acclaim for her performances and recordings of contemporary piano music. Her affinity for American experimental music has led her to commission, premiere, and record works by many experimental composers, including Robert Ashley, William Duckworth, Kyle Gann, Jerry Hunt, Elodie Lauten, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, Kirk Nurock, Stephen Scott, and "Blue" Gene Tyranny.

Svard has performed throughout the US and in Europe. Her performances often celebrate the avant-garde in piano music, whether in the music of Franz Liszt in the nineteenth century, or in more recent works using multimedia, prepared piano, digital keyboard or microtonal tunings. During 2002-2003, Svard was named Joan C. Edwards Visiting Distinguished Professor of the Arts at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.   Also in 2003, she received a Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in the category "Arts Commentary - Perspectives on the Arts." In addition to performing as a soloist, Svard has appeared with Chamber groups such as the Cassatt String Quartet, as well as with dancers such as the Department of Dance at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and with Peter Boal, former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.  

Svard's interest in experimental music and innovative piano techniques led her, about 12 years ago, to begin a study of the creative process and its application to areas other than the arts. As the owner/founder of innovera, Svard designs and gives seminars on creative thinking to businesses, organizations, and educational institutions. Clients have included such diverse entities as IBM, Marshall University, and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center.

The combination of her avant-garde performance experience and her study and application of the creative process has recently resulted in a new research area: an exploration of the difference in left- and right-hemisphere processing on the study and performance of piano.  

Svard holds a doctorate in piano performance from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.   She is a tenured member of the faculty at Bucknell University where, in addition to teaching piano, she has also designed and taught interdisciplinary courses on the creative process and on the culture of creativity.   Svard has recorded for Innovera Studios and Lovely Music, Ltd.