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Bass

Lawrence Wolfe

Assistant Principal Bass, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Maria Nistazos Stata chair, endowed in perpetuity

Principal Bass, Boston Pops Orchestra
McGrath Family chair, endowed in perpetuity

Lawrence Wolfe headshot with bass

About

Lawrence Wolfe joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra bass section in 1970, becoming the orchestra's youngest member at that time. During the 1981-82 season, he was named assistant principal bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal bass of the Boston Pops Orchestra. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Wolfe studied double bass with William Curtis, Leslie Martin, and Gary Karr. As a Fellow at Tanglewood Music Center, he was awarded the Albert Spaulding Prize for the most promising and outstanding instrumentalist. He is now a faculty member at Boston University, New England Conservatory, and Boston Conservatory. Represented on Titanic Records by his album, “Lawrence Wolfe, Double Bass,” Wolfe has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Recital Hall, NEC's Jordan Hall, Kilbourne Hall in Rochester, and Symphony Hall, where he has been a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.

Wolfe was a judge and performer alongside his wife, soprano Pamela Wolfe, at the International Double Bass Competition on the Isle of Man in England. At the invitation of the Australian String Teachers Association, Wolfe toured the major cities of Australia, performing in recitals and teaching master classes. At the 1988 convention of the International Institute of the String Bass in Los Angeles, he was a recitalist, judge, and arranger. At Disneyland, he conducted an ensemble of 80 bass players in his own arrangements of Disney tunes. As a composer, Wolfe has numerous popular songs and three musicals to his credit. Ronald Feldman conducted the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in the premiere of his overture, Freefall, and John Williams conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra in the premiere of his trumpet concerto with Timothy Morrison as soloist. Prophecy and Joy, a celebratory piece for chorus and orchestra to words by Walt Whitman, was commissioned by the Masterworks Chorale for their fiftieth‑anniversary concert at Symphony Hall.

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