Darren Lael is available for Advanced Traditional Piano lessons at Hickory Arts.
A native of Hickory, Darren Lael has collaborated in various settings including classical, theatre, church musician, and ballet. He is currently an organist at First United Methodist Church. As a member of the United States Army Field Band, he toured and performed extensively across the United States approximately 120 days a year. Special holiday concerts included partnering with ensembles such as the Detroit Symphony and the Cleveland and Boston Pops. With the Field Band, he was a soloist on works by Gershwin and Shostakovich and participated in the recording projects The Legacy of Leonard Bernstein, The Legacy of George Gershwin, The Legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan, and The Soundtrack of the American Soldier (Grammy-Best Immersive Audio Album), which was recorded at Skywalker Sound in California.
Darren received degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Maryland, in addition to collaborative studies at the University of Colorado. While at NCSA, he performed Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the school orchestra as a winner of the student concerto competition. Other solo appearances have been with the orchestras of Raleigh, Gardner-Webb University, and Grand Valley State University. He has also studied and performed at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, and as part of the Tibor Varga Festival at the Académie de Musique in Sion, Switzerland.
Along with community and regional theatre productions, Darren toured across North America with productions of Grease!, Smokey Joe's Café, Godspell, Oklahoma!, and The Full Monty.
