Canadian-American pianist John Garo Lonergan is emerging as an increasingly prominent young artist. Raised near San Francisco, California, John began studying the piano at age 6 and graduated with both his Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Performance on full scholarship at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in 2021 and 2023 respectively, under the instruction of Craig Richey.
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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.
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In September 2022, John performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Bob Cole Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Jacob Sustaita from the Pacific Symphony.
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John has performed in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, and extensively across the United States. John has taken part in master classes with such renowned pianists as Yoheved Kaplinsky, 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. He aspires to an international pianistic career and strives to consistently attract new audiences to the transformative power of classical music.
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John is the recipient of several prestigious musical scholarships, including the Paul J. Lynskey Piano Scholarship at the Bowdoin Festival, and the Barbara Fracisco Mertes Performing Arts Scholarship in 2018, which granted him the opportunity to study at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music with full tuition and housing covered. John was one of only three students to ever receive this scholarship.
In addition to performance, John is also a passionate composer and arranger. In early 2018, John 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 will make 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.