Praised by the New York Times as "a gifted Brazilian-American modernist" whose works are “brilliantly realized”, “technically formidable, wildly varied”, and possess “voluptuous, elemental lyricism”, Felipe Lara’s work — which includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, film, electroacoustic, and popular music—engages in producing new musical contexts by means of (re)interpreting and translating acoustical and extra-musical properties of familiar source sonorities into project-specific forces. He often aspires to create self-similar relationships between the macro and micro-articulation of the musical experience and highlights the interdependence of acoustic music composition and technology, including the application of electroacoustic paradigms as catalysts for both entire structures and local textures.
Since 2009, he has been actively engaging with local artists, non-profit organizations, and public school students from the Brazilian Mantiqueira Forrest area on interdiciplinary and collaborative works that focus on the local APAs (Areas of Environmental Protection), with the common theme of sustainability.
He holds a PhD in Music Composition from New York University (Graduate School of Arts and Science) where he was a Henry M. MacCracken Fellow, a Masters from Tufts University, and a Bachelors degree from Berklee College of Music.