Laurence
Lesser
President Emeritus; Walter W. Naumburg Chair in Music; Violoncello,
Chamber Music; Artistic Director, "First Monday at Jordan Hall"
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Laurence Lesser was a top prize winner in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and a guest performer in the historic Heifetz-Piatigorsky concerts and recordings. 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.
In 2005, Lesser was named a "Chevalier du Violoncelle" by the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at Indiana University, awarded for distinguished achievements and contributions to the world of cello playing and teaching.
Laurence Lesser occupies a teaching chair endowed by the estate of Walter W. Naumburg.
A.B., cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard College. Studies
with Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California.
Fulbright Scholar with Gaspar Cassadó in Köln, Germany.
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.
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