Lawrence Leonard

Lawrence Leonard (22 August 1923 – 4 January 2001) was a British conductor, cellist, composer, teacher, and writer.

Leonard received his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music and the École Normale de Musique de Paris.

His musical career began at age 16, as an orchestral cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra, playing under such conductors as Sir Henry Wood, Richard Strauss, and Leopold Stokowski.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Leonard, a close friend of cartoonist Gerard Hoffnung's, participated both as conductor and composer, in the celebrated Hoffnung concerts.

In 1959, at Leonard Bernstein's request, Leonard conducted the London premiere of West Side Story.

Leonard was Associate Conductor of the BBC Northern Orchestra and Assistant Conductor to Sir John Barbirolli at the Hallé Orchestra (1963-1968). In 1964, Leonard conducted the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's chamber opera Martin's Lie, at the Bath International Music Festival.

From 1968 to 1973, Leonard was Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, where two of his orchestral compositions were premiered (an adaptation of Machaut's Grande Messe de Notre Dame in 1972 and Group Questions for Orchestra in 1973). In 1971, he conducted the Edmonton Symphony in a concert featuring the British rock band Procol Harum, which was recorded and released commercially as Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, although due to an apparent distaste for rock music, from the start of the project Leonard disowned any association with the performance and went so far as to refuse to have his name listed in the credits. The concert and resulting recording went on to become the most successful live pairing of symphony orchestra and rock music to date and a worldwide best-seller, and even spawned a hit single, "Conquistador".

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