Lisa Kinzer
Professor of Music

Pianist Lisa Kinzer, Professor of Music, has been at Longwood University since 1996.  In addition to Applied Piano, Piano Pedagogy, and other piano related courses, she teaches upper level theory and aural skills. 

Dr. Kinzer earned degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Louisiana State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where teachers included Robert McDonald, Anne Epperson, Jack Guerry, and John Salmon.  As a doctoral candidate in piano performance, she served as vocal coach and accompanist for the UNC-G Opera program under the direction of David Holley.  Kinzer engaged in performance analysis, specifically with regard to the late solo piano music of Johannes Brahms, which culminated in her DMA dissertation, “Performance Practices in Brahms’s Klavierstücke, Op. 118: A Survey of  Recordings from 1903-1997.”

Kinzer maintains an active performance schedule that includes solo recitals, lecture recitals, masterclasses, and numerous collaborative programs with such artists as soprano Julianne Baird, violinist Sergiu Schwartz, and the Amernet String Quartet. In 2024, she collaborated with colleague Mike Waddell on a recording project of previously unrecorded works for euphonium and piano.  Other notable partnerships include programs with clarinetist David Niethamer, pianist James Kidd, and tenor Christopher Swanson.  

In an effort to continue exploring pianists’ participation in the world of opera, Kinzer served as vocal coach/accompanist on the artist faculty at the Operafestival di Roma in Italy, and was the pianist for the Summer Garden Opera Festival in Farmville, VA from 2010-2020. 

A regular clinician and adjudicator for numerous piano competitions, Kinzer is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, Virginia Music Teachers Association (Executive Board), College Music Society, and National Guild of Piano Teachers. She received the Maude Glenn Raiford award for excellence in teaching at Longwood in 2009, and was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2023.