Lots of 13-year-old girls are obsessed over fashion, frenemies and crushes. When Lauren Anker was 13, she was falling in love with the French horn.

PT's latest Young Artist in Residence is horn player Lauren Anker. She grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia and was introduced to classical music at an early age by her mother, a cellist and strings teacher. Over the past ten years, Anker has won numerous awards and scholarships and has studied with some of the best horn players of our time. She has also performed at Chicago's Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Art Museum.

Anker credits summer music festivals for particularly nurturing her love for classical music. Her past festival experience includes the National Orchestral Institute, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and four summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Currently, Anker is pursuing a master's degree in Horn Performance under William VerMeulen at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas. In Houston, Anker also teaches private lessons and masterclasses to high school students and gives lectures and performances at community centers and retirement homes throughout the city. Since 2018, she's also been developing a private studio with VirtuAcademy, an online teaching platform.

In 2019, Anker obtained degrees in Horn Performance and History from Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. She is a member of the Kodan Quintet and serves as a substitute horn with the Houston Symphony and Akron Symphony Orchestra.

When she isn't in class or practicing her playing, Anker is either hiking, biking or perfecting her mother's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Lauren Anker was accompanied in the studio by pianist Mei Rui.

To see Lauren Anker's Performance Today in the Classroom Lesson featuring video performances click here:

https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2021/03/25/performance-today-in-the-classroom-lauren-anker