LaWayne Leno: Author & Pianist
LaWayne Leno, currently residing in the suburbs of St Paul, Minnesota, was born and raised on a farm in North Dakota. Even as a young child, he had a deep passion for classical piano music and it was a dream come true when he began his piano studies with Belle Mehus at her music school in Bismarck, North Dakota. Eventually Belle Mehus encouraged him to become one of her ‘junior’ teachers and LaWayne discovered his love of, and affinity for, piano teaching. He later also studied with Belle’s sister, concert pianist Alma Mehus Studness.
As a young adult LaWayne moved to New York City and became a student of Oxana Yablonskaya, a recently arrived Russian emigre who had been on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. Those lessons, for which he is forever indebted, proved to be a fascinating opportunity, revealing previously unimagined pianistic sounds and colors, technical prowess, and interpretive finesse.
LaWayne completed his education at the University of Mary in Bismarck with an accounting major, became a CPA, and enjoyed a richly rewarding twenty-year career as a self-employed software and accounting consultant, traveling extensively throughout the United States.
He subsequently reduced his work schedule and returned to his first love—teaching private piano lessons—which he continues to do from his studio in downtown White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Writing, another life-long passion, came to fruition with the 2012 release of his award-winning biography entitled The Untold Story of Adele aus der Ohe, the first ever biography of one of the most successful concert pianists of the late 19th and early 20th century. LaWayne became aware of Adele aus der Ohe from the stories his teachers, Belle Mehus and Alma Mehus Studness related, when, as young women, they had both studied with Adele aus der Ohe in Berlin. LaWayne’s book has been highly lauded for bringing to light the compelling story of this nearly forgotten female artist. He was interviewed by Alison Young on Minnesota Public Radio’s Music with Minnesotans program.