Lynda Saponara graduated in 2007 from Rutgers University with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano Performance. She also holds a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (2004), and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Accompanying from Westminster Choir College (1999). Teachers have included Barbara González-Palmer, José Ramos-Santana, JJ Penna, Dalton Baldwin, John Simmons, and David Lutz.
Dr. Saponara has extensive professional experience as a piano pedagogue and performer. In 2005/06 she served as Assistant Piano Professor in the Lyric Theater Department of The College of New Jersey, where she developed an opera workshop class, offered private coachings for undergraduate vocal majors, and provided musical direction for operas and scene programs. Previous academic appointments have included, among others, part-time positions at the Mason Gross School of the Arts (2004-05), New Jersey City University (2004-05), and Wagner College, Staten Island (2002-05.
Dr. Saponara has performed extensively in the United States and Austria with singers, instrumentalists, orchestras, and choirs. Most recently she performed on the TODAY show with tenor Philip Alongi. For five seasons, she has been invited to the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, as recital pianist and repetiteur. She has served as pianist/coach for La Bohème, Carmen (Princeton Festival), Roméo et Juliette (dell'Arte Opera Ensemble), Madama Butterfly (Opera at Florham), and as keyboardist for Opera Festival of New Jersey in the premiere performance of Burning Bright by Frank Lewin (onstage keyboard) and Six Characters in Search of an Author by Hugo Weisgall (celesta). Dr. Saponara has also performed with the American Handel Festival, South Mountain Theaterworks, and at the annual meeting of the African-American Women Composers and Arrangers Symposium in Dayton, Ohio. She has served as master class pianist for composer John Corigliano, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, pianists Dalton Baldwin and Joan Dornemann, and singers Paul Plishka, Sharon Sweet, Patricia Craig, and Gabriela Lechner.
Dr. Saponara joined the piano faculty of Hunterdon Academy of the Arts in 2010. She specializes in teaching piano lessons for advanced students.