Lawrence Golan, Biography

Lawrence Golan is currently the Resident Conductor of The Phoenix Symphony. In that capacity, he conducts on each of the symphony’s major series including Classics, Pops, Favorites, Family and Education. This season, he is conducting a total of 65 concerts with The Phoenix Symphony. Golan is also Music Director & Conductor of Boulder Baroque, the Boulder Bach Festival, and the Portland Ballet Company. In addition, he continues to guest conduct professional orchestras, opera and ballet companies in the United States and around the world. Mr. Golan has conducted in over 20 U.S. states and 10 countries. Recent international performances include concerts with the Moravian Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, the Harrogate Symphony Orchestra in England, and a tour of Italy with the Orchestra Citta’ di Grosseto.

Golan is known for his inspired performances, imaginative programming, passion for developing new audiences, and engaging off-podium interactions. He is also recognized for his expertise in the complete spectrum of musical styles and periods.

A staunch supporter of music education, Golan is the conductor of the Phoenix Youth Symphony and Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, where he teaches graduate conducting majors and conducts the Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre. As a result of his accomplishments with the LSO, Golan has won five consecutive Outstanding Merit Awards from the University of Denver, three consecutive ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and in 2003, the Downbeat Magazine Award for “Best College Symphony Orchestra”.

A native of Chicago, Lawrence Golan holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music (B.M. and M.M.) and the New England Conservatory of Music (D.M.A.). In addition, he studied at all of the major conducting festivals including Aspen and Tanglewood, where in 1999 he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship. The long list of distinguished conductors with whom Mr. Golan studied includes Robert Spano, Jorma Panula, David Zinman, Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Murry Sidlin, and Harold Farberman.

Mr. Golan’s most recent recordings are with the Moravian Philharmonic on the Albany Records label. Funky Little Crustaceans features orchestral music by Colorado composer William Hill and Visions, Dreams & Memories is a collection of works for Native American flute and orchestra with James Pellerite, former Principal Flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and now one of the world’s premiere Native American flutists. Golan’s recording of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 and Tchaikovsky 6.1 by Peter Boyer, a work that Golan commissioned and premiered, will be released in 2008. In addition, Mr. Golan has several commercially available recordings as a violinist.

Lawrence Golan’s edition and reduced orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is published by Spurwink River Publishing and is used by orchestras and ballet companies across North America. His most recent publication is a scholarly-performing edition of the solo violin works of J. S. Bach that includes a handbook on Baroque Performance Practice published by Mel Bay Publications.

Lawrence and his wife Cecilia, a hospitality industry executive from Buenos Aires, Argentina, have been married since 2003.

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