Verena Lauer
Verena is currently based in Birmingham, UK where she completed her MMus (Perf) Degree at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2010, studying violin with Nathaniel Vallois and viola with Robin Ireland.
She was a finalist in the Herbert Lumby Conservatoire violin prize in 2008 and has performed at different events such as the North London Music Festival, the Lake District Summer School and Stamford International Music Festival.
Verena also has a strong interest in Baroque music and studied Baroque violin alongside her modern playing at Conservatoire with Kate Fawcett.
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Verena's orchestral playing has taken her to many different European countries and includes playing at prestigious venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre and the Barbican Centre in London where she was co-leading the London Orpheus Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008 and 2009 she also joined Joe Broughton's Folk Ensemble, trying herself as a folk fiddler. As a chamber musician, she has been a member of various chamber ensembles - piano trio, string sextett and string quartet as well as Capelle Baroque Orchestra.
Before coming to Birmingham, Verena completed her BMus (Hons) Degree in London at Royal Holloway and then went for further studies to the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied violin with Eyal Kless. Specialising in string teaching, her course comprised of additional weekly Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Kodály and String Pedagogy classes in which she successfully completed all final examinations, including her teaching examination. She is a fully qualified Dalcroze and Kodály teacher, holding the Certificate of the British Dalcroze Society. In 2009, Verena has been given the Jean-Vincent award for her outstanding work in the field of Dalcroze Eurhythmics.
Following her strong interest in early year's music education, Verena started training as a Suzuki violin teacher in 2009 and since then successfully completed the highest level of training (level 5) and now holds the Diploma of the European Suzuki Association. As such she is a graduate teacher of the British Suzuki Institute. In 2017 Verena attended the viola conversion course offered by the BSI and is now also a qualified Suzuki viola teacher. As a new endeavour, Verena then went to train with Jenny Macmillan in Cambridge for her level 1 Suzuki piano teacher qualification and passed her exam in August 2017 and is now able to also offer Suzuki piano lessons in her studio.
Besides giving private lessons in and around Birmingham, Verena has been teaching Dalcroze, Kodály and Suzuki violin at the Young Strings Project at Birmingham Conservatoire for over 8 years and works as a violin and viola teacher for Birmingham Music Service. Additionally, she held the post of Assistant Head of Strings at the Music Service in 2012/2013 which included organising and running concerts, teacher appraisal, professional visits to members of staff, compering events and liaising with schools and other institutions. She has also been mentoring students on the MMus pedagogy course at Birmingham Conservatoire and is regularly invited to hold guest lectures at Birmingham City University and Birmingham Conservatoire on various postgraduate courses.
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