Lawrence Blind

Director / CEO

Lawrence Blind and his wife, Teresa Hurt, are co-owners of the New Mexico School of Music.  Lawrence joined NMSM in 2011, first as the Piano Department Chair, and then as the Director under Tatiana Vetrinskaya.  He and his wife are thrilled to carry on the incredible 20-year legacy of the school while exploring new and exciting programs to offer our students.

Mr. Blind was a national winner of the prestigious Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Competition, a winner of the Young Keyboard Artist Association International Piano Competition, and a Semi-Finalist in the William Kapell International Piano Competition.  Reviewers praised his playing as “Electrifyingly exciting…amazing control, meltingly lyrical tone, flawless technique, and tremendous sonority…” and demonstrating “…an unfailing sureness or musical means and ends.”  In New Mexico Mr. Blind has appeared on the Corrales Cultural Arts Council Series, the Placitas Artist Series, the Grant County Community Concert Association, as a soloist with the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, and on numerous faculty and guest artist recitals at the University of New Mexico.

Mr. Blind began his piano studies in Rochester, New York at the age of six. He made his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall three years later, and returned for an encore performance at age twelve. As a teenager he attended summer programs at Chautauqua Institution and the Tanglewood Institute. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the Indiana University School of Music, and the coveted Performer’s Certificate while studying with Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music.

Mr. Blind began his teaching career as an Associate Instructor in Piano at Indiana University, and later established private studios in Maryland and New York.  Prior to moving to New Mexico he was an Assistant Professor of Piano at Heidelberg College in Ohio.  He is a past president of the Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico (PMTNM).  In 2022 he was named the Southwest Teacher of Distinction by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), and he was the PMTNM Teacher of the Year in 2018.

His talented students have excelled in the PMTNM Honors Auditions, Music Teachers National Association Junior & Senior Competitions, and Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Concerto Competition. Many of his students participate in the RCM Examination Program, and have consistently received scores of First-Class Honors and First-Class Honors with Distinction.  He has had numerous RCM Gold Medal winners for achieving the highest scores in the southwest and nationally.