Michael Lawrence, Executive Director
Joining BCMF in January 2014, Michael Lawrence has enjoyed a distinguished career in the performing arts. From 2007-14 he served as The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Director of Artistic Planning and Initiatives, working alongside Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han on all CMS programming, recordings, residency activities, touring projects, and radio broadcasts. During his tenure, he oversaw a rapid expansion of touring operations in the United States, as well as Europe, Asia, and South America, more than doubling the number of performances taking place outside of New York each season. Under his direction, CMS instituted a number of new ventures, including teaching and performing projects in Taiwan and Korea; annual residencies in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Athens (Georgia); multiple year residencies at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele in Germany and at Wigmore Hall in London; and the Society's first summer home at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Mr. Lawrence served as Director of Artistic Programs at the League of American Orchestras from 2003 to 2007, where he directed conductor and composer programs, including the American Conducting Fellows Program, the National Conducting Institute in partnership with the National Symphony Orchestra, the composer-in-residence program Music Alive! and the national commissioning project, Ford Made in America, and appeared as a guest speaker at conferences and designed and led seminars. As Manager of Artists and Programs for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2003, he programmed classical, pops, parks, and festival concerts. In 1999, he was selected to participate in the League of American Orchestras’ prestigious Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, with placements at the Aspen Music Festival, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Virginia Symphony. Mr. Lawrence is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied cello performance and English.