Creative individuals have always found a way to be productive, even during times such as the one in which the world currently finds itself in. Lawrence Golan's latest work, Fantasia for Orchestra, came about as a direct result of the global pandemic.
"In March of 2020, virtually the entire world went into lockdown in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Thousands of concerts were canceled and for many months, those of us who were accustomed to performing night after night found ourselves with some extra time on our hands. I decided to use some of this extra time to re-orchestrate my Fantasia for Solo Violin for full orchestra," Golan explains.
The original work for solo violin (Ablaze Records, Millennial Masters, Vol. 9; Ludwig-Masters Publications) was written in 1993 when Golan was a doctoral student at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. A work full of emotions and color, it seemed to Golan a perfect response to the uncertainty raised by COVID-19.
"We begin with fear and uncertainty, and for the first half of the piece the mood is dark and depressing," he explains. "Midway through, the music becomes stodgy and repetitive, giving one the impression that the drudgery will never end. However, a heroic modulation from D Minor to D Major brings hope and ushers in a glorious fanfare in the brass. All doom and gloom is wiped away and the piece concludes triumphantly. In that we are currently still in the pandemic, I am projecting to the feeling we will all experience when we get to the other side."
Lawrence Golan Music in cooperation with Notation Central/NYC Music Services.
Upcoming performances this fall for Maestro Golan include both online and live events with reduced orchestra to conform with COVID-19 guidelines. In late September, Maestro Golan opened the Denver Philharmonic's season with three sold out outdoor concerts.
Yakima Symphony Orchestra
October 10, 2020 at 7:30 PM
Conversation and a Concert with Lawrence Golan
MOZART Haffner Symphony
(recorded performance)
Lamont Symphony Orchestra
October 13, 7:30 PM
BOYER Three Olympians
MAHLER “Adagietto” from Symphony No. 5
MARSHALL Threnody
WALKER Lyric for Strings
TCHAIKOVSKY Serenade for Strings
York Symphony Orchestra
October 17, 2020 at 7:30 PM
Premiere Live Digital Concert
TCHAIKOVSKY Serenade for Strings
BARBER Adagio for Strings
BOYER Three Olympians
WALKER Lyric For Strings
York Symphony Orchestra
November 28, 2020 at 2:00 PM
Holiday Pops Concert
Live Streamed Concert
featuring brass and percussion sections
Acclaimed for his vibrant, inspired performances, imaginative programming and evocative command of different styles and composers, American conductor Lawrence Golan has developed a reputation as a dynamic, charismatic communicator. He has conducted throughout the United States and in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and continues to develop relationships with orchestras nationally and abroad.
Golan has served as Music Director of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra in Washington state since 2010, Colorado’s Denver Philharmonic since 2013, and Pennsylvania’s York Symphony Orchestra since 2014. He is also Music Director of Colorado’s Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre at the University of Denver.
An accomplished violinist, Golan served as Principal Second violinist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra (1989-1990) and then Concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra for eleven years (1990-2001), before focusing his career on the podium.
As a composer/arranger, Golan’s edition and reduced orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is published by Spurwink River Publishing. It is used by orchestras and ballet companies across North America. His scholarly-performing edition of the solo violin works of J. S. Bach, which includes a handbook on Baroque Performance Practice, and The Lawrence Golan Violin Scale System are both published by Mel Bay Publications. Golan’s Fantasia for Solo Violin (Ablaze Records, Millennial Masters Vol. 9.) is published by Ludwig Music and won the Global Music Award for composition in 2011.
A native of Chicago, Lawrence Golan comes from a musical family - his father, the late Joseph Golan, was a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for forty-nine years and Principal Second Violinist for thirty-five of those years. Lawrence Golan received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Master of Music in Violin Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the Indiana University School of Music and his D.M.A. in Violin Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1999 he was awarded Tanglewood Music Center’s Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship, and in 2002, Aspen Music Festival’s Conducting Fellowship.
Lawrence and his wife Cecilia, who is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, have two young children. www.lawrencegolan.com
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