Dr. Leonidas Lagrimas

Leonidas Lagrimas, Ph.D., NCTM was one of the initial founding members of VLMTA-NC and is proud to serve as its current President.  He is an Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy for the WCU School of Music. His main duties include Applied Piano and coordinating the Class Piano program. An emerging leader in piano pedagogy research, Dr. Lagrimas has presented at local, state, regional, and national music conferences for College Music Society, MTNA, NCKP, and NafME. He serves on the editorial board of American Music Teacher, the official MTNA journal, and is Editor of the North Carolina Music Teachers Association Journal. Dr. Lagrimas has been published in Piano Magazine, the MTNA E-Journal, and American Music Teacher, and he been a regular webinar contributor and clinician for MTNA, NaFME, and the Francis Clark Center.

As a performer, Dr. Lagrimas is active throughout the country as a solo and collaborative pianist. Recent and upcoming performances include Guest Artist recitals at the University of Florida, University of Alabama, Appalachian State University, UNC-Greensboro, and numerous faculty recitals at WCU. Past collaborative piano highlights include performances with Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann, country superstar Lorrie Morgan, and multiple Carnegie Hall appearances. Active as musical theatre pianist, conductor, and music director, his recent regional credits include Next to Normal and The Sondheim Tribute Revue at Waynesville's HART Theatre, Rock of Ages and 9 to 5: The Musical for Theatre Tallahassee, In the Heights and American Idiot for New Stage Theatreworks, and Little Shop of Horrors for Starring Buffalo! at Shea's 710 Theatre.

Dr. Lagrimas is the proud recipient of the 2024 Belcher College Faculty Teaching Award and the 2023 Belcher College Faculty Scholarship Award at Western Carolina University. He is a frequently invited competition judge and masterclass clinician throughout the country and serves on the state Executive Board for NCMTA. He holds National Certification (NCTM) in piano from MTNA and a Ph.D. in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy from Florida State University. In addition to his teaching at WCU, Dr. Lagrimas maintains a private piano studio and serves as Vice-President of the Asheville Area Piano Forum. His previous full-time faculty appointments include SUNY-Fredonia and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and prior to his doctoral studies he served as a music teacher in the New York City public schools for ten years.