Lawrence Golan, Conductor

Lawrence Golan, 3-time Global Music Award winner, is currently in his second season as the Helen N. Jewett Music Director of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra. During his highly successful inaugural season, Golan helped to grow the orchestra both artistically and financially. He has been praised for his varied, imaginative, and exciting programming and helped the YSO win an ASCAP Award for the Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. Golan's appointment in Yakima comes on the heels of an equally successful four-year term as Resident Conductor of The Phoenix Symphony. That orchestra's President and CEO Maryellen Gleason stated that Lawrence Golan was "unequivocally the best Resident Conductor The Phoenix Symphony ever had." Music Director Michael Christie said that Golan "is a programmer of virtually unprecedented creativity and scope." Several of the concerts that Golan programmed, conducted, and narrated with The Phoenix Symphony turned out to be the most financially successful and well-attended performances in the history of the orchestra, completely selling out triple concert sets in a 2200-seat hall. Golan continues to guest conduct professional orchestras, opera, and ballet companies in the United States and around the world. Having conducted in 25 U.S. states and 16 countries, recent engagements include performances in Boulder, Macon, Memphis, and Tucson as well as the Czech Republic, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, and a three-week tour of China with the American Festival Orchestra.

A staunch supporter of music education, Golan is a tenured full professor at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music where he conducts the Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre and leads one of the most distinguished and highly sought after graduate conducting programs in the United States. During his time in Denver, Golan has won seven consecutive Outstanding Merit Awards, six ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and the Downbeat Magazine Award for "Best College Symphony Orchestra". The Lamont School of Music's director, Joseph Docksey, has called Golan's work there "nothing short of astounding."

Lawrence Golan is known for his inspired performances, imaginative programming, passion for developing new audiences, and excellent public speaking skills—entertaining and/or educating the audience from both on and off the podium. He is also recognized for his expertise in the complete spectrum of musical styles and periods. He has worked with artists ranging from Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Horne, Daniel Barenboim and Joshua Bell to Frank Sinatra, Kenny G and ShaNaNa.

A native of Chicago, Lawrence Golan holds degrees in both conducting and violin performance from Indiana University's Jacobs 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.

Following in the footsteps of his father Joseph Golan, longtime Principal Second Violinist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Golan is also an accomplished violinist. He was Concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra for eleven years, has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, and has made several commercially available recordings as a violinist.

Lawrence and his wife Cecilia, who is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, have been married since 2003. They have a wonderful little girl named Giovanna.