Performances + Events
Laurence Lesser
Education and Training
AB, Harvard College. Studies with Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California
Awards and Recognition
Fourth prize, Tchaikovsky Competition, 1966
Awarded "Chevalier du Violoncelle" by the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at Indiana University, 2005
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, class of 1994
Naumburg Chair in Music, New England Conservatory
President, New England Conservatory, 1983-1996; Acting President, 2005-2006
Curator, First Monday at Jordan Hall concert series, 1985—present
Fulbright Scholarship
Featured Links
First Monday at Jordan Hall Beethoven: Complete Music for Cello and Piano Works of Henri LazaroffCollaborations
Heifetz-Piatigorsky Concerts Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Casals Chamber Music Festival Marlboro Music Festival Ravinia Festival Music at Menlo Festival Spoleto Music Festival Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Yellow Barn Killington Music Festival Music for Food, Board memberIn 2010, Bridge records issued Lesser’s recording with pianist HaeSun Paik of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano. The comprehensive documentation embraced by this three-disc collection includes two audio CDs as well as the DVD Behind the Beethoven Project with biographical material, a discussion of this repertoire, and clips from concerts held in Korea immediately following the recording sessions in NEC’s Jordan Hall.
In 1976 he gave the premiere of Menotti’s Fantasia (written for him under a Ford Foundation grant) with the New Japan Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa; in 1991, he performed the New England premiere with the NEC Symphony conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. He has been a soloist with the BSO, the London Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and other major orchestras. He has appeared at the Casals, Spoleto, Marlboro, Charleston, and Santa Fe festivals as well as London’s South Bank Summer Music Festival.
Recordings on Columbia, RCA, Melodiya, Desto. Former faculty of Peabody Institute, University of Southern California, Banff Centre for the Arts, Toho Gakuen School of Music.
Curriculum Vitae
AB, Harvard College. Studies with Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California
- Fourth prize, Tchaikovsky Competition, 1966
- Awarded "Chevalier du Violoncelle" by the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at Indiana University, 2005
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, class of 1994
- Naumburg Chair in Music, New England Conservatory
- President, New England Conservatory, 1983-1996; Acting President, 2005-2006
- Curator, First Monday at Jordan Hall concert series, 1985—present
- Fulbright Scholarship
Affiliated Departments and Programs
Strings
