Brent Lawrence is a composer and guitarist native to Salem, Virginia. As a creator of both instrumental and vocal works, he is noted for his use of lush harmonies, memorable melodies, and genre–bending compositional style. In particular, Brent holds an affinity for music featuring the guitar and voice, a nod towards his background is jazz, blues, and American folk music. Additionally, Brent has composes nature-inspired pieces as a member of the Landscape Music Composers Network. Many of these works focus on contrasts of color, history of the land, and the unique sense-of-place each landscape can possess.
Recently, Brent has been a 2018 composition fellow at the Wyoming Festival in Grand Teton National Park and his works have been premiered by soprano, Estelí Gomez; clarinetist, James Shields in addition to the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and Cascadia Composers. Brent is an active member of the Oregon Composers Forum, and Cascadia Composers. Brent has earned a B.A in Guitar Performance from Pfeiffer University (Misenheimer, NC), an M.M in Composition from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston–Salem, NC), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Oregon.
Representative Works:
“On Distance Hills” by Corvus. 24 July 2017 in Denali National Park and Preserve, 25 July 2017 for theFairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Fairbanks, AK.
“Water and Stone” by Esteli Gomez, soprano; Brent Lawrence, guitar. 7 May 2017 for the 2017 Music Today Festival, University of Oregon, Eugene.
“Snow Caps” from High Desert Panoramas by Molly Barth and Friends at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, Eugene, OR, July, 2018.
Visit Me Online:
• Web: www.brent-lawrence.com
• Music: Soundcloud
• Video: YouTube Video Channel
Oregon Connection: Lives in Eugen and is a University of Oregon graduate student in music composition.
