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The Americasn violinist, violist, soprano and music director, Lisa Marie Lawson, credits much of her Baroque music intuition to her early studies of J.S. Bach with Portland organist Valerian Fox, on the piano, and to many evenings of hearing her mother practicing J.S. Bach inventions. She also received piano lessons with the pianist Sylvia Killman, music theory and ensemble classes in Portland's Community Music Center. Following in the tradition of musicians for all time, her early development was heightened with studies of counterpoint and harmony, and regular participation in musical performance with her family. Her leadership skills had a rare developmental opportunity when at the age of 15, as Principal Violist of the Portland Youth Philharmonic she led weekly sectionals for her peers for three years. She obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance from from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (1988-1992); and her Master of Music degree in Viola from University of Southern California (1992-1994), where she studied viola with Paul Coletti and Donald McInnes.
In her teens and in college, Lisa Marie Lawson performed at festivals in the USA and Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, including the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy, where she received the Diplome D'Honore and the Guido Chigi Prize. She received fellowships to both the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival, where she performed under such great conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, David Zinman, Eiji Oue, Leon Fleisher, and James DePriest. Chamber music coaches were Eugene Lehner, Sylvia Rosenberg, Earl Carlyss, and Berl Senofsky. She performed as principal violist at festivals including the Tanglewood Institute, Aspen Music Festival. She performed as a member of Concert Artists of Baltimore from 1990-1992. Her interest in Baroque music was sparked at USC in a Baroque repertoire class taught by lutenist James Tyler. She continued her studies, on violin, with Elizabeth Field and coachings with Michael Sand.
Lisa Marie Lawson's decision to settle near Sacramento in 1994 was influenced most by her love of the West Coast and choice to be close to family. She and her husband Michael created the concert series "Music at the White Bird Gallery" in Sutter Creek, which produced monthly concerts for three years. She became a first violinist in the Sacramento Philharmonic and the Sacramento Opera Orchestra, in which she performed for ten years.
Lisa Marie Lawson's love of Baroque music led to the founding of Sacramento Baroque Soloists in 2001, to provide the Sacramento region the opportunity to experience the exquisite beauty and expression of this music. She serves the organization as Music Director and leads the ensemble. She occasionally performs with other Baroque groups in California including Bach Collegium San Diego (Director: Ruben Valenzuela) and San Francisco Bach Society. In addition, she is Lead vocalist at Lady of the Lake in Sacramento (since 2009); and Minister of Music at Unity Spiritual Community Citrus Heights in Citrus Heights, California. She writes and performs music both for Lady of the Lake and for Radiant Being, her spiritual music group. A diverse musician, she also sings, plays the piano and the harp, and writes music. She is also band musician in Keeva, a Celtic folk band, with which she sings, plays the fiddle, and harp.
Lisa Marie Lawson taught privately (Lawson Music Productions) from 1994 to 2011. Since 1998, she has been teaching Violin/Viola a select group of 20 students at the Pease Conservatory in Sacramento. In 1999 and 2000 the Lawsons received an Artists in the Schools grant to teach strings to 80 string students at John Morse School in Sacramento, where they pioneered the school’s string program for three years. They continue educating students in the schools with their dynamic musical program Music Journey, which they have performed in schools throughout the Sacramento region.
Lisa Marie Lawson performs on a 1727 Celoniatus violin. She currently lives in Ione, California. |
