Meet Our Teachers

Biography

John Garo Lonergan is a Canadian-American pianist raised near San Francisco, California. Beginning his piano studies at age 6, John graduated with both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance on full scholarship from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in 2021 and 2023 respectively, under the instruction of Craig Richey.

John has performed in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, and extensively across the United States in both solo and collaborative performances. In September 2022, John performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the BCCM Symphony Orchestra. John has taken part in master classes and lessons with such renowned pianists as Yoheved Kaplinsky, Sharon Mann, Greg Anderson, Frederic Chiu, Suzanne Goyette, and Vitali Gavrouc. He has also enjoyed summer studies with Jon Nakamatsu, Ran Dank, Julian Martin and Norman Krieger. John attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2023 and 2024, and the Brevard Music Center in 2022.

John is a prizewinner in many competitions, including receiving 1st Prize in the CAPMT Sonata Competition of May 2023, 2nd Prize in the MTNA California Young Artist Performance Competition of October 2020, and 1st Prize in the Beverly August Piano Scholarship Competition in October 2021 as well as 2022. In April 2023, he was a semifinalist in the Alicante International Piano Competition in Spain. In early 2018, he composed a string quartet titled Nouveau Quatuor which was premiered and recorded by members of the San Francisco Symphony. John has also premiered works by living composers; in May 2024 he made the premiere recording of 'Sonatina' by Puerto Rican composer Raymond Torres-Santos.

In his free time, John enjoys composing, arranging, travelling, cooking, eating, going on excessively long walks, and learning languages; he speaks English, French, Spanish, and Armenian.