A composition for solo piano by Lauren Greenberg
Developed through the 2025 Summer Composing Mentorship
Mentored by Soheil Shirangi
Piano:Qin Lan Zhang
Published by Zang Records in September 2026
Crafty, Not Creative explores the tension between concealment and revelation. The music moves between moments of calm and passages filled with unease, building anticipation that sometimes resolves and sometimes lingers unresolved. By contrasting smooth, lyrical lines with sudden staccato interruptions, the piece highlights the fragile balance between serenity and tension. The title reflects on the difference between cleverness and originality , on how careful planning or manipulation may be mistaken for true creativity . Listeners may hear the piece as a meditation on ambiguity: when to trust what feels settled, and when to lean into instability .
Lauren Greenberg is a composer and performer from Toronto, Canada. Her music is playful and narrative-driven, drawing influence from film music and musical theatre while focusing on clear musical ideas and engaging the listener. Her music has been performed by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, The Odin Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Splinter Reeds, and BlackBox Ensemble.
Lauren was one of five composers selected for the 2024 Winnipeg New Music Festival Composers Institute, where her orchestral work Bonds Of Cosmic Origins was premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She has since participated in the ICEBERG Institute, LunART Festival Composers’ Hub, and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s Pathways: Choral Creation.
Lauren holds a Master of Music in Composition from NYU Steinhardt, where she studied with Julia Wolfe and Herschel Garfein, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, with a minor in Screen Scoring from Berklee College of Music.