Biography

Lucas Porter was described as "a young lion of the keyboard" with "staggering virtuosity and some of the old-school pyrotechnics and unabashed romanticism of early 20th-century legends like Moiseiwitsch or even Sofronitsky" (Natasha Gauthier, Ottawa Citizen).

Porter’s early music education was under Kurt Van der Basch, Barbara and John Hansen, Owen Stephens (music theory and history) and Marc Durand. In 2012, Porter received a Bachelor of Music at the Glenn Gould School and a Masters of Music from the University of Montreal under the tutelage of Marc Durand. Porter also studied under Dang Thai Son in Montreal. He went on to complete an Artist Diploma at Oberlin Conservatory as part of the Lake Como Fellow Program. There, he studied with Stanislav Ioudenitch and William Grant Nabore. In the spring of 2023, Porter completed his Doctorate of Music at the University of Montreal with Jimmy Briere.

Porter is a national and international prize winner. He is the youngest person to date to win the Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition. He won the Canadian Music Competition multiple times, including the grand prize award. Porter won the International Notion Realize Music Challenge in 2007 with his own composition, titled “Port Williams Overture.” Porter’s other competition highlights include his success at the Montreal International Musical Competition where he was an audience and media favorite. The Montreal Gazette critic Robert Markow described his double octaves as being “the fastest since Horowitz, and even cleaner.”

Porter has performed many times as a soloist with orchestra. A few of these performances include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Symphony Nova Scotia in 2024, Ravel’s G Major Concerto with the Kamloops Symphony in 2017, and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C Major with the Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014.

Chosen to represent Canada at Expo 2005 in Nagoya, Japan, he took part in a series of concerts along with Canadian soprano, Measha Brueggergosman. At the invitation of the Honourable Peter McKay, he played for Condoleezza Rice at the Halifax 9/11 Ceremony in September of 2006. He also performed in the 2011 Canada Winter Games which were held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In December of 2024, Porter performed alongside violinist Laurence Kayaleh and cellist Elizabeth Dolin in Toronto at many venues, including the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Canadian Opera Company. Porter has many engagements coming up in 2025, including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Youth Orchestra of Las Vegas in April, as well as several chamber music recitals across Canada.