Montreal native; Laura Nerenberg; started playing the violin at 3 and the piano at 7. Laura has performed chamber music; orchestral music; jazz; pop; folk and improvised music all over the National Capital region. She has also performed in Newfoundland; California; Tanzania and beyond. Laura is a founding member of Gatineau; Quebec's premier chamber music group: ?Ensemble Prisme.? She also helped found the Ottawa Baroque Consort; the Courage4 jazz quartet; the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra and the Triptych Piano Trio. Since; 2017; she's been a proud member of the truly original Algonquin Ensemble ? playing music dedicated to the art; life and legacy of Canadian luminary artist; Tom Thomson. She held leadership roles in the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra as assistant concertmaster and principal second violin from 2000-2011. She was also principal second violin of the now-defunct; ?Orchestre des concerts symphoniques de Gatineau.? Laura plays often with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra and also performs with choirs all over the region; most notably Gatineau's ?Choeur classique de l'outaouais;? with whom she recorded in 2017. Always wishing to push herself musically; Laura returned to the piano in 2017; by studying jazz piano. In 2019; she performed a full recital on Baroque violin to a packed venue along Ottawa's Rideau Canal. Laura's principal teachers were John Gomez; Mitchell Stern and Katie Lansdale. She studied Suzuki pedagogy with Teri Einfeldt at the Hartt School and most recently; has studied repertoire 'Beyond the Suzuki Books' with esteemed violinist and teacher; Brian Lewis.


Laura is the director of the Rideau Falls Violins. She teaches Suzuki Violin and Creative Ability Development (improvisation) to students aged 3 and up. She is also one of a small number of Creative Ability Development teacher-trainers; guiding her fellow teachers to cultivate their own creativity and teach their students how to improvise. Her students perform in formal concerts as well as at hospitals and retirement homes. In concert; they play standard classical repertoire; folk music from around the world and their own improvised works. Much sought-after as a Suzuki; chamber music and improvisation clinician; she has taught in six Canadian provinces; and one territory as well as in New Hampshire; Connecticut; Boston; Tanzania and further afield. In 2016; a group of her students participated in a ?play-in? with renowned Canadian violin virtuoso; James Ehnes at Rideau Hall; the residence of Canada's Governor General.