Alan Lawrence

Alan Lawrence was born in 1949 in Hertfordshire, thirty miles north of London. His childhood musical activities centered around violin (which he studied from the age of eight) and guitar (which he began learning at the age of thirteen). Compositions during his school years included a number of chamber pieces, choral works and a Christmas cantata for chorus and wind band. At the age of eighteen he wrote the score for an amateur animated film – this being his first experience of writing incidental music for film and television.

After studying composition (with John Lambert) and guitar at the Royal College of Music, he pursued a career as both a composer and a performer. He worked as a session musician and occasionally appeared as a soloist, but the greater part of his work was in the theatre, both as composer and player, and for a number of different companies, including the Old Vic Theatre Company. He worked with the Old Vic in London and on tour in the UK and internationally. It was with this company that he first came to Australia in 1979. Since then he has written music for a number of Queensland Theatre Company productions including three of the popular Shakespeare in the Park series.

In 1987 Lawrence decided to concentrate entirely on composing. He established a recording studio in central London, writing and producing music for many television productions ranging from current affairs to comedy via the arts. He wrote music for many short films and a number of award-winning animations. He also composed and produced music for major exhibition spaces in Britain and Europe including the Museum of London and Granada Studios.

In 1997 he closed his studio and resolved to devote his energies entirely to the writing of music for concert performance. With his wife, Australian actress Carol Burns, Lawrence returned to Queensland. Since then he has composed a variety of orchestral and chamber works performed in Australia and in England – among these: Chromatograph (Queensland Orchestra – Brisbane, 2003); Encryption II for oboe and percussion ensemble (Duncan Tolmie and Isorhythmos – Brisbane, 2003); Jacques Pasquier rencontre Yvonne Audette ici for clarinet and string trio (Richard Haynes and ensemble – Queensland Art gallery, 2005); Composition with Eames Chair for solo clarinet (Andrew Harper – Dukes Hall, London, 2006); and Offshore (So-la Voce Chamber Choir – Brisbane, 2009). He has recently completed a one-act opera The Hoop of the World with a libretto by David Harsent (2009). Lawrence was a 2002 Composer Affiliate of The Queensland Orchestra and has a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland.