Summary
Aren Long serves as lecturer of collaborative piano at the University of Nevada, Reno. A long time member of the Northern Nevada and California communities, Aren began his music career in high school where he played as a section violinist for the Reno Philharmonic, served as music director and keyboardist for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and traveled as a multi-instrumentalist in a touring folk band. He received both a Bachelor's of Music Education and a Master's of Music in Piano Performance from University of Nevada, Reno, where he currently music directs, teaches, and plays in both the School of Music and Department of Theatre & Dance.
Aren has enjoyed an active career as a performer and collaborative artist. He has performed as a soloist in iconic West Coast locations such as San Francisco's Warfield Hall, has given performances in rural areas such as Quincy, CA and Elko, NV, and in 2023 was featured as an organ soloist for the Kennedy Center's Capitol Orchestra Festival in Washington D.C. Since 2018, Aren has served as the keyboardist and assistant director for the California Arts in Corrections Program, in which he directs and performs with multiple prison choirs and bands. He has also worked as a rehearsal pianist for the Reno Philharmonic Chorus, the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the Nevada Chamber Opera, the Donner Mine Music Camp, and the Nevada Gay Men's Chorus. Aren is frequent collaborator for both the Reno Little Theater and Good Luck Macbeth Theater Company, where he has directed and played for shows such Evil Dead the Musical, Spongebob the Musical, and Something Rotten. He can often be found playing every summer for Reno's "Artown" series and around the area as a freelance keyboardist.
In addition to his professional work, Aren has a deep passion for creative independent music. In 2022, he released his debut studio album On Greenwich Way, a project that featured twenty two musicians and was co-produced, written, arranged and engineered from a home studio. His current musical group, Aren & the Neighborhood, creates collaborative art that centers around the themes of mental health, trauma, and community and has been described as "heart-wrenching" and "wonderfully theatrical."