On August 9, in a program entitled The Poetic Flute,  Zara Lawler performs her staged version of composer Edie Hill’s This Floating World, five solo flute pieces with haiku by Japanese master Basho in an inventive and fully choreographed setting. On August 10, she presents Memorization: Theory, Practice and Performance, her methodical and effective technique for memorization, empowering musicians to perform confidently from memory. Both events take place as part of the National Flute Association’s Annual Convention at the New Orleans Marriott, 555 Canal St. Both programs are open to the public.

Ground-breaking flutist Zara Lawler, “an engaging, fluent, mellifluous soloist,” (Houston Chronicle) made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony and her recital debut at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. A recognized leader in the emerging field of interdisciplinary performance, Lawler has collaborated with choreographers, composers and stage directors to create new and adventurous concert experiences. Recently, Lawler directed a site-specific performance for 104 flutists of Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Il Cerchio Tagliato Dei Suoni” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and appeared in family performances for the New York Philharmonic and for the Kennedy Center.

Lawler’s interdisciplinary performances, in which she plays, dances and acts, have been created in collaboration with choreographer C. Neil Parsons, stage director Gary Race, and composers Randall Woolf, Jerome Kitzke, and Alla Borzova among others. For many years, Lawler was the flutist and Co-Artistic Director of Tales & Scales, the innovative ensemble for children and family audiences. With T&S, she performed and co-created seven full-length works that integrated contemporary classical music with dance and theater, an experience described by New Music Connoisseur as “an enthrallingly visual and acoustic joy.” Lawler performed with T&S in some of the most prestigious venues in the country, including the Kennedy Center, the Kravis Center, TriBeca Performing Arts Center, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center and with the Atlanta, Utah, Indianapolis, and Oregon Symphonies, and the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Lawler has given solo recitals in New York, Santa Barbara, Hong Kong, and throughout the US, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Houston Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Lawler spent two summers at the Marlboro School of Music, and has been a guest artist with eighth blackbird. Her critically acclaimed duo with marimbist Paul J. Fadoul (Lawler & Fadoul) is frequently heard in Washington, DC and New York City, and last year was in residence at Yellow Barn in Vermont.