Since 1995, our founders, Narcis Bonet and Philip Lasser, and the core faculty, have shared the vision and the commitment to impart a legacy training that focuses on method as an inroad to discovering one’s musical ear.

Our legacy

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, American composers have made their pilgrimages to Paris to study with the legendary Nadia Boulanger. She single-handedly changed the course of American music by having taught composers such as Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, David Diamond, Roger Sessions, Louise Talma, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, and countless others.

Since 1995, young composers from all over the United States have continued this pilgrimage to study at EAMA. Teaching and inspiring two generations of composers, EAMA has kept alive the torch of serious musical training inspired by Nadia Boulanger well into the 21st-Century.

At the heart of EAMA’s unique teaching is the vision of our founder, Philip Lasser who studied at Nadia Boulanger’s famed Ecole d’Arts Americaines in Fontainebleau, France as a young composer. Following his studies at Harvard College, Lasser lived in Paris, where as a composer, he studied intensively with Boulanger’s closest colleague and disciple, Narcis Bonet, and in piano with the legendary pianist Gaby Casadesus.  Lasser then returned to the US to receive his master’s degree from Columbia University and his doctorate from The Juilliard School, where he worked with David Diamond -also a student in the ‘Boulangerie.’ Lasser was taken onto the faculty of The Juilliard School where he has been teaching for over 30 years.

EAMA’s curriculum, building upon Nadia Boulanger’s philosophy, includes intensive coursework in the fundamental tools of musical understanding, choral singing, and musicianship classes.

With over 1,000 students having been educated through our Summer Institute in Paris our alumni represent the finest in classical music today and through them, EAMA has revolutionized tradition.

Our faculty, also, hold appointments at the most prestigious universities and are awarded with the most respected accolades and commissions.

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