Lara St. John (born April 15, 1971) is a Canadian violinist.
Early life
Lara St. John was born in London, Ontario, and spent her early childhood there. As the daughter of two educators (her father was a language teacher and her mother a music instructor), she and her older brother Scott were encouraged at an early age to develop musical talents.
St. John began playing the violin at age two, and the next year she took her first lessons, with the instructor Richard Lawrence. She gave her first public performance as soloist with an orchestra by age four. At age 10, St. John made her European debut with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, after which she spent three years touring the continent, including Spain, France, and Hungary. St. John has said that, during her studies at Curtis, she was sexually assaulted by one of her instructors, Jascha Brodsky, when she was 14. An investigation by the law firm Cozen O'Connor, commissioned by the Curtis Board in November 2019, found St. John's claims to be credible. The Board unanimously accepted the law firm's report.
In 1985, St. John participated in the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, winning 4th price in the Junior division.
In 1988, at 16, she moved on her own to the former Soviet Union, becoming the youngest post-graduate student at the Moscow Conservatory. The same year, St. John traveled throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where she encountered the Romani people, an experience that later influenced her musical performance projects.
St. John eventually returned to her studies and attended three different academies: the Guildhall School in London (under David Takeno), Mannes College of Music in New York (under Galimir), and the New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston (under James Buswell).
Career
Notable performances
In North America, St. John has performed as a soloist with major symphony orchestras, including those of Cleveland, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, the Boston Pops, the Knights, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa) and the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico). In 2012, she produced and performed in a concert for the 25th anniversary concert of Astor Piazzolla’s "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" in New York's Central Park.
Groups
From 2002 to 2007, St. John performed with the Canadian music ensemble Bowfire.
Instruments
In 1997, upon winning the Canada Council Stradivarius Prize, St. John was given the two-year use of a Lyall Stradivarius built in 1702. In 1999, an anonymous donor lent St. John the 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini. Since 2024, she has owned it.
Ancalagon Records
In 1999, St. John founded the artist-owned record company Ancalagon LLC. She did so as a result of her dissatisfaction with the marketing and production approach of larger recording companies. St. John named the record company after her pet iguana, Ancalagon. The photo showed her from the waist up, apparently topless, holding a violin positioned to hide her chest. The album sold over 25,000 copies, a best seller by the standards of the classical music industry. She said in 2002: "If this cover, being unusual, ... is responsible for a couple of people picking it up and listening to these incredibly great works of Bach that they would not otherwise have heard, then it is all worthwhile."
Visual media
Music videos
St. John frequently produces and edits her own music videos, many of which are made available on YouTube.
Dear Lara
St. John wrote and directed the 2026 documentary feature film Dear Lara on the subject of sexual abuse of students by their instructors at many leading classical music conservatories. She conceived of the project after being contacted by multiple fellow survivors of abuse after her own story was told in a front-page Philadelphia Inquirer article in 2019.
Recognition, notable reviews, and awards
St. John's work has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, CNN's Showbiz Today, Fox News, the CBC, and the Bravo! special series, Live At the Rehearsal Hall. Three short films have been produced by Bravo! featuring St. John, High Wire Bach, Czardas Caprice and High Flying Bach. She has also appeared in People Magazine.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gold medalist Nastia Liukin performed her floor routine to "Variations on Dark Eyes (Occhi Chornye)", from St. John's Gypsy album.
St. John's work has been reviewed by publications including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and U.S. News & World Report.
Her 2010 album, Mozart: Scott & Lara St. John / The Knights, won the 2011 Juno Classical Album of the Year – Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment
In 2018 she served as artistic curator for Wolf Trap Chamber Music at the Barns.
In 2020, St. John was appointed a member of the Order of Canada for "pushing the boundaries of classical interpretation as a solo violinist and for supporting diversity in the arts."
Personal life
She is married to Stephen H. Judson. While not on tour, she is based in New York City.
She feels an affinity with reptiles.