Lawrence Golan

Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Chair
TRVH 317 | 303.871.6909

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Biography

Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Golan, Conductor
More than merely an ensemble, the Lamont Symphony Orchestra provides a comprehensive and intensive learning experience that prepares students for careers as orchestral musicians. To that end we 1) expose students to orchestral repertoire from all periods and styles of music and instruct them on appropriate performance practices associated with each style and period, 2) expose students to the repertoire and procedures associated with professional orchestra auditions, and 3) instruct students on the etiquette and expectations of professional orchestra players. The orchestra performs six symphonic concerts and one opera each year.

Lawrence Golan is one of America 's most exciting up-and-coming conductors. He has consistently won national recognition, awards and accolades for his inspired performances, imaginative programming, passion for developing new audiences and engaging off-podium interactions. Currently Music Director and Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre, Music Director and Conductor of the Portland Ballet Company, and Music Director of the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras, Maestro Golan is also a frequent guest conductor for professional orchestras, opera companies and ballet companies around the world.

Mr. Golan started training at the age of three, when his father, principal second violinist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a former child prodigy himself, first put a violin into his son's hands. In a feat of father-son relationships, Lawrence continued to train with his father through his teens.

As a violinist, Lawrence Golan earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the internationally renowned music program at Indiana University , and promptly was snapped up by the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as principal second violinist.

Later, he became concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Director of String Studies at the University of Southern Maine , where he was also hired to be Music Director and Conductor of the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra.

His challenge was that the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra had only one member in it at the time – a lone violist. In charge of establishing a high-level orchestra virtually from scratch, Mr. Golan learned about building an orchestra, and conducting, from the ground up. By the time he had created a 75-piece orchestra playing Mahler symphonies, and had completed his Doctorate at the New England Conservatory of Music, Lawrence Golan knew conducting was his destiny.

In 1999, Mr. Golan received the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship, and became a conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center , where he was mentored by masters including Robert Spano, Seiji Ozawa, Andr é Previn and Jorma Panula. Panula commented at the time, “Tanglewood is the international Mecca of conducting talent, and even among this elite group of conductors, Lawrence Golan is at the top of the class.”

The next year, Mr. Golan was one of eight conductors from around the world invited to the National Symphony Orchestra Conducting Institute in Washington , D.C. , led by Leonard Slatkin. Then, in 2002, Mr. Golan won an American Academy of Conducting Fellowship at the celebrated Aspen Music Festival, where his mentors included David Zinman and Michael Tilson Thomas.

At the same time, he continued creating music and orchestras where none had existed before – founding the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra in Maine , with the sole mission of developing new audiences for classical music, and becoming Music Director of the Portland Ballet Company, negotiating for the use of a live orchestra in place of recorded music.

In 2001, Maestro Golan was recruited by the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music to become Music Director and Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre, Professor of Conducting and Director of the school's Orchestral Studies program. Under his direction, the Lamont Symphony Orchestra was awarded Downbeat Magazine's 2003 “Best College Symphony Orchestra” and in 2004, was awarded an ASCAP award for Innovative Programming. Maestro Golan has also won accolades for audience development (Conductor's Guild, 2001) and for education and scholarship ( University of Denver , 2002, 2003, 2004).

Maestro Golan has conducted in over 20 states across the country, including recent performances with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic. Recent international performances include concerts with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, the Harrogate Symphony Orchestra in England, the Orchestra Citta' di Grosseto in Italy and the Orquesta de San Luis Potosí in Mexico .

He has been described as “one of the finest conductors I have seen in years” (David Epstein, Conductors Guild), as “very gifted” (Robert Spano, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), as having an “outstanding technique” (Jorma Panula, Tanglewood) and as “an engaging and articulate leader who dynamically connects with audiences as well as musicians” (Marin Alsop, Colorado Symphony Orchestra). The Director of the Lamont School of Music, Joseph Docksey, has praised his work as “nothing short of astounding”.

Reviewers have called performances under his leadership, “quite marvelous”, “flawless”, “superb”, and “filled with moments of sweeping intensity and hushed beauty”.

Mr. Golan has recorded for the Albany , Authentic and Entrata record labels, and has had compositions, editions and arrangements published by Ludwig Music, Mel Bay Publications and Spurwink River Publishing. He is currently based in Denver with his wife, Cecilia, an international financial researcher from Buenos Aires, Argentina.