Naila Alvarenga-Lahmann

Naila Alvarenga-Lahmann hails from Brazil and attended master classes from an early age with famous pianists such as Eduardo Hubert, Peter Kairoff, and Luiz de Moura Castro. Her long-time teacher Celina Szrvinsk eventually provided the decisive inspiration. In 1998, Naila Alvarenga Lahmann won the International “Magda Tagliaferro” Piano Competition in São Paulo, which included a scholarship to study in Germany. There she studied chamber music and pursued the concert exam program with Michael Uhde, completing both with distinction.

Since then, she has been energetically involved with Brazilian music: for a recording for the SWR, she combined works by Ronaldo Miranda and by Claude Debussy. Naila Alvarenga Lahmann is a sought-after chamber music partner and soloist, performs internationally, and resides in the Karlsruhe area.

Katja Zakotnik says about her chamber music partner: “What I appreciate about Naila is her composedand straightforward manner. Despite our two different temperaments our rehearsals are actually very quiet. You can tell that she has played at very many competitions including winning the Magdalena Tagliaferro International Piano Competition in São Paulo in 1998. After that she came to Germany and completed a double major in soloand chamber music performance at the Karlsruhe’s University of Music, completing both degrees with distinction. I think saying she is ‘stress resistant’ captures her nature quite well. She worked as a performance coach in a trumpet solo master class for three years. That definitely had an impact in her becoming an unbelievably good chamber music partner: she has a good sense of my breathing. I can recall many performances when we neither made eye contact nor even moved very much. She simply breathed with me and we worked together. We have a shared passion for Brahms but have not yet had the opportunity to give it expression on the recital stage. Naila has often dedicated herself musically to her homeland, for example in 2005, when she performed works by the Brazilian composer Ronaldo Miranda and recorded them as well. She has also performed a program of works by Ronaldo Miranda and Claude Debussy on Germany’s SWR radio/television station. Three years later she made a concert tour of Brazil with her piano quartet and played works by German composers there – sometimes under hair-raising conditions on ‘pianos that no pianist here would play on,’ as she herself said. But she has never complained about such things. Naila would never complain about an instrument. She coaxes the most beautiful colors out of any piano or concert grand.She makes music – who is interested in minor matters then.”

Naila Alvarenga-Lahmann initially studied under Prof. Celina Szrvinsk (chamber music partner of the cellist Antonio Meneses, Bern), then later under among others Prof. Michael Uhde. She performs both in Germany and internationally and has won prizes at many international competitions. Concert reviews refer to her playing as being “as sensitive as it is virtuoso.”

Picture (c) Christian Gaier