Undergraduate
- Information, Auditions,
Scholarships
- The Music Major
- Ensembles
Graduate
- Information
- Performance
- History and Theory
- Ethnomusicology
- Composition
Performances and Events
- Concert Season
- Ensembles
- Student Recitals
- Colloquia
Faculty & Staff
Pre-College Program
Adult Chamber Program
Current News
Alumni News
Positions Available
Staller Center for the Arts
Samuel Baron Prize
Giving to the Music Department
Music Department
3304 Staller Center
SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5475
631.632.7330
fax 631.632.7404
Designed & Maintained by Melissa Bishop/DoIT
Modified on 04/20/2007 10:54:20 PM EDT
|
Faculty & Staff > History & Theory > David Lawton |
David Lawton, Professor;
Opera Studies, Music History and Theory, Co-Director of the Opera Workshop
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1973
E-mail David Lawton at: David.Lawton[at]stonybrook.edu
Upon receiving his A.B. degree from the University of California, David Lawton received an Alfred Hertz Traveling Fellowship, which enabled him to study conducting with Nino Sanzogno and analysis with Luigi Dallapiccola in Italy. Returning to Berkeley, Dr. Lawton completed his Ph.D. with a dissertation on "Tonality and Drama in Verdi's Early Operas." A noted Verdi scholar, he is the editor of several volumes in the new critical edition of the works of Giuseppe Verdi. His articles on Verdi have been published by W.W. Norton and the University of California Press, and in such journals as Studi verdiani, 19th Century Music, JAMS, The Musical Quarterly, and Verdi Newsletter. David Lawton is active as a conductor with regional American opera companies, including OperaDelaware, where he is Artistic Consultant, and Summer Opera Theater, where he is Resident Conductor. He has also conducted for such companies as Sarasota Opera, the Washington Opera, the Tulsa Opera Companies, and the Teatro Comunale di Modena in Italy.Biography | Curriculum Vitae | Opera Repertoire List | Reviews
With an active repertoire of over 60 operas, 230 symphonic works, and 30 major choral compositions, David Lawton has 25 years experience as a professional opera conductor in the United States and in Italy. Lawton’s 1997-98 season included Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz (Stony Brook Opera Ensemble), Le nozze di Figaro for both Summer Opera Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and OperaDelaware, Der fliegende Holländer for OperaDelaware, and La bohème for Summer Opera Theatre. Lawton made his Sarasota Opera debut in February-March of 1996, conducting the American premiere of Bizet’s La jolie fille de Perth, then led The Magic Flute for OperaDelaware, and Don Pasquale for Summer Opera Theatre. Other recent credits include the world premiere of Conrad Cummings’ Tonkin for OperaDelaware, in November 1993, a project supported by major funding from Opera America and the NEA. Lawton recorded three scenes from this work on a CRI compact disc. In February 1994 he returned to Tulsa Opera to lead Rigoletto, and in May he conducted Il trovatore for National Grand Opera. In July, he led Summer Opera Theatre’s production of The Dialogues of the Carmelites. In December he returned to National Grand Opera for Carmen, and to Summer Opera Theatre in June, 1995 for Falstaff. Upcoming engagements include Eugene Onegin for OperaDelaware in November 1998, and Don Giovanni for OperaDelaware in May, and Summer Opera Theatre in June, 1999.
Other conducting engagements include The Washington Opera (Don Carlo), Cincinnati Opera (Rigoletto), and Tulsa Opera (Le Trouvère broadcast nationally on NPR’s World of Opera). For the Teatro comunale di Modena he conducted a production of La traviata that also toured Cesena, Reggio Emilia, Piacenza, and Ferrara. Currently he serves as Artistic Consultant for OperaDelaware, where he has conducted Stiffelio, La traviata, Aida, Macbeth (1865 version), Don Giovanni, Un ballo in maschera, and Les Contes d’Hoffman (Oeser edition), and The Magic Flute. As Resident Conductor for Summer Opera Theatre he has led productions of Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, Anna Bolena, Cosi fan tutte, La Cenerentola, and Impresario/Pagliacci. For National Grand Opera he has also conducted Rigoletto and La traviata.
Additional regional credits include Berkshire Opera Company (La finta giardiniera), Brooklyn Opera Society (Cosi fan tutte) and Opera on the Sound. As Resident Conductor of the latter company, he led productions of Rigoletto, La traviata, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Hänsel und Gretel, Die Fledermaus and Don Pasquale. Lawton founded the Long Island Opera Society and conducted critically acclaimed concert performances of Verdi’s Macbeth (1847) and Il Corsaro (American premiere, with Carlo Bergonzi in the title role), as well as the first complete performance in the United States of Donizetti’s Maria Padilla. The Corsaro performance has been issued as a private recording in HRE’s Complete Verdi Cycle.
David Lawton is Music Director of the Opera Ensemble at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he also serves as Chair of the Department of Music. At Stony Brook he has led full productions of a varied repertoire that includes rarely performed operas from the eighteenth century to the present: Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano, Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride, Haydn’s La Canterina, Benda’s Medea, Weber’s Abu Hassan, Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Berlioz’ Beatrice et Benedict Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, Falla’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro, Stravinsky’s Mavra, Holst’s The Wandering Scholar, and musical theatre works such as The Threepenny Opera and A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. In addition, he has been an orchestral and choral conductor, as well as a chamber music coach at the University of California at Berkeley, New York University, the State University of New York, and Harvard University.
Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Lawton received his AB in Music from the University of California. After studying conducting in Italy with Nino Sanzogno, then permanent conductor at the Teatro alla Scala, Milano, and with the celebrated composer Luigi Dallapiccola, Lawton received the Ph.D. degree from U.C. Berkeley in 1973 with a dissertation on Verdi’s early operas. An internationally recognized Verdi scholar, Lawton has published numerous articles on Verdi, and is volume editor for Il trovatore and Le Trouvère in the new critical edition of The Works of Giuseppe Verdi published by The University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi.
PERSONAL
Born November 9, 1941 in Berkeley, California
EDUCATION
- 1973: PhD in Musicology, University of California at Berkeley. Dissertation: Tonality and drama in Verdi's early operas.
1965-1968: Graduate study in Music, University of California at Berkeley.
1963-1965: Private study in Italy
Conducting with Nino Sanzogno, La Scala, Milano
Analysis with Luigi Dallapiccola, Firenze
1963: AB with Honors in Music, University of California at Berkeley.
1959-1963: Undergraduate study, University of California at Berkeley.
- 1996-present: Chair, Department of Music, SUNY at Stony Brook
1988-present: Professor of Music, Department of Music, SUNY at Stony Brook.
1986-1996: Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Music, SUNY at Stony Brook.
1989-present: Resident Conductor, Summer Opera Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.
1989-present: Artistic Consultant, OperaDelaware, Wilmington, DE
1981-1985: Adjunct Associate Professor of Music and Music Education, New York University.
1981-1983: Music Director, Long Island Opera Society.
1978-1980: Music Director and Resident Conductor, Opera on the Sound.
Summer 1979: Visiting Associate Professor of Music, SUNY at Purchase.
1974-1988: Associate Professor of Music (tenured), SUNY at Stony Brook.
Summer 1974: Visiting Associate Professor of Music, Harvard University.
Summer 1972: Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, Harvard University.
1971-1974: Assistant Professor of Music, SUNY at Stony Brook.
1969-1971: Instructor in Music, SUNY at Stony Brook.
1968-1969: Acting Assistant Professor of Music, University of California at Berkeley.
1965-1968: Graduate Teaching Assistant in Music, University of California at Berkeley.
Performance:
- Orchestra
Chorus
Opera workshop
Chamber music
Orchestral conducting
Opera conducting
Choral conducting
Repertoire for conductors
Seminar in analysis and performance
- Ear training
Modal counterpoint
Tonal counterpoint
Analysis of tonal music
Analysis of twentieth-century music
Orchestral music of the nineteenth century
Nineteenth-century opera
Graduate seminars on nineteenth-century topics
Verdi
Wagner
Schoenberg
Survey of twentieth-century music
Survey of the Baroque through Romantic eras
Music appreciation
Opera appreciation
Handel and the opera seria
Mozart's German operas
Goethe's Faust and the symphonic tradition
Eugene Onegin: Pushkin and Tchaikovsky
Editions:
- Giuseppe Verdi, Il Trovatore. The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, Vol 18A. Chicago and Milano, University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi, 1993.
- Giuseppe Verdi, Le Trouvère. The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, Vol 18B. Chicago and Milano, University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi (in preparation).
- Critical performing edition of Verdi's Paris revisions of Il Trovatore (Le Trouvère, 1857), Milano, G. Ricordi, 1980.
- Critical performing edition of Verdi's Il Trovatore, prepared for the bicentennial celebrations of Teatro alla Scala, Milano. Milano, Casa Ricordi, 1978.
- Critical performing edition of Verdi's Macbeth, 1847 version, prepared for the Fifth International Congress of Verdi Studies, Danville, Kentucky, November 1977. Milano, Casa Ricordi, 1977.
- Critical revisions from the autograph (unpublished) of Verdi's La Traviata, Macbeth (1865 version), and Aida.
- Critical revision of Verdi's Stiffelio, from ms OA 179, National Bibliothek, Vienna.
- Reduced orchestrations of Verdi's Aida, Macbeth II, Un ballo in maschera, Falstaff and Stiffelio, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, Don Pasquale and Anna Bolena, Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
- Ornamenting Verdi arias: the continuity of a tradition, to be published in the proceedings of the international Verdi conference held at Covent Garden, July 1995 (in press).
- A new sketch for I due Foscari, in Verdi, Newsletter of the American Institute for Verdi Studies, 22 (1995), pp. 4-16.
- The autograph of Aida and the new Verdi edition, in Verdi, Newsletter of the American Institute for Verdi Studies, 14 (1986), pp. 4-14.
- Le trouvère, Verdi's revision of Il trovatore for Paris, Part II. Unpublished; much of the material will be incorporated in the Introduction to the critical edition of Le trouvère currently in preparation (see above).
- Tonal systems in Aida, Act III, in Analyzing opera: Verdi and Wagner, edited by Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1989, pp. 262-295.
- Le trouvère: Verdi's revision of Il trovatore for Paris, in Studi verdiani, 3 (1985), pp. 79-119.
- Why bother with the new Verdi edition?, in The Opera Quarterly, 2 (1984), pp. 43-54.
- Critical performers and critical editions, in Nuove prospettive nella ricerca verdiana, Parma, Istituto di studi verdiani, 1987, pp. 10-19.
- Observations on the autograph of Macbeth I, in Verdi's Macbeth: a source book, edited by David Rosen and Andrew Porter, New York, W. W. Norton, 1984, pp. 210-226.
- The Corsair reaches port [Verdi's Il Corsaro], in Opera News, 46/20 (1982), pp. 16, 18 and 42; reprinted in the program book of the Verdi Festival at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1996.
- Tonal structure and dramatic action in Rigoletto, in Verdi, bolletino quadrimestrale dell'Istituto di studi verdiani, 9 (1982), pp. 1559-1581.
- Ernani's final trio, in The Dallas Opera, 25th anniversary program book, Dallas, 1981, pp. 44-46.
- On the "bacio" theme in Otello, in 19th Century Music, 1/3 (1978), pp. 211-220.
- Verdi's non-definitive revisions [co-author David Rosen], in Atti del terzo congresso internazionale di studi verdiani, Parma, Istituto di studi verdiani, 1974, pp. 189-237.
- Per una bibliografia ragionata verdiana, in Atti del primo congresso internazionale di studi verdiani, Parma, Istituto di studi verdiani, 1969, pp. 437-442.
- Verdi, Cavallini and the clarinet solo in La forza del destino, in Verdi, bolletino quadrimestrale dell'Istituto di studi verdiani 6 (1964), pp. 1723-1748.
- James A. Hepokoski, Giuseppe Verdi: Otello (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) in 19th Century Music, 13 (1989), pp. 59-67.
- More on the case for Donizetti (Maria Padilla), in The Opera Quarterly, 3 (1985), pp. 161-172.
- Giuseppe Verdi, Don Carlos: edizione integrale, in Studi verdiani, 3 (1983), pp. 209-224.
- Giuseppe Verdi, Don Carlos: edizione integrale, in The Musical Quarterly, 69 (1983), pp. 107-121.
- Maria Callas in her own words (radio documentary), in The Opera Quarterly , 6 (1988), pp. 156-160.
- Verdi: Stiffelio and Aroldo (Philips and CBS complete recordings) in The Opera Quarterly, 5/2 (1987), pp. 193-197.
- Arthur Groos and Roger Parker, Giacomo Puccini: La bohème (Cambridge Opera Handbook), in The Opera Quarterly 5/1 (1987), pp. 109-111.
- Philip Gossett, Anna Bolena and the artistic maturity of Gaetano Donizetti, in The Opera Quarterly, 4/2 (1986), pp. 184-189.
- Martin Chusid, A catalog of Verdi's operas, in Journal of the American Musicological Society, 19 (1976), pp. 151-153.
- Orchestral music by Vincent Persichetti and Gordon Binkerd, in Notes, 32 (1975), pp. 135-136.
- Orchestral music by Carl Ruggles and Krzystof Penderecki, in Notes, 30 (1974), pp. 864-866.
- Orchestral music by Rudolf Maros and George Balch Wilson, in Notes, 29 (1973), pp. 543-545.
- Professional panelist for the Johns Hopkins University Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth, 1997 Career Symposia, Hofstra University, March 8, 1997 and March 7, 1998.
- Adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera Preliminary Auditions, New England Region, Boston, MA, January 10-11, 1997.
- Ph.D. dissertation advisor for Stephen Meyer, Ph. D. in Music History, SUNY Stony Brook: Degree awarded December 1996.
- Adjudicator for the Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship (categories of Solo Performance, and Music Composition), Spring 1996.
- Outside reader for P.A. Brown's Ph.D. dissertation Sempre libera: changes and variations in singing style in Verdi's La traviata from the first century of operatic sound recording, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Summer 1996.
- Outside reader for Rebecca Kowal's Ph.D. dissertation Issues of Style in the Mature Operas of Saverio Mercadante, Brandeis University, Fall 1996.
- Verdi, Stiffelio. With Nicholas Muni, OperaDelaware, 1988.
- Verdi, Un ballo in maschera. With Leland Kimball, OperaDelaware, 1988.
- Verdi, Aida. With Leland Kimball, OperaDelaware, 1984.
- The two versions of Macbeth and Il trovatore, Sarasota Opera Conference on Verdi's revisions, March 22-23, 1996.
- Wrestling with recitatives in the translation of Trovatore, Sarasota Opera Conference on Verdi's French Operas, March 25, 1994
- The transformation of Il trovatore into Le Trouvère, Peabody Conservatory, December 11, 1992.
- Aspects of text-setting and orchestration in Le Trouvère, NYU, May 25, 1991.
- The Oeser Edition of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, Wilcastle, May 15, 1991.
- Aspetti del rifacimento del Trovatore per Parigi, Parma, Festival Verdiano, September 19, 1990.
- The final scene of Verdi's Stiffelio, Wilcastle Center for Lifelong Learning, November 16, 1988.
- The love duet in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. University of Delaware April 27, 1988; Wilcastle Center for Life Long Learning April 19, 1988; SUNY at Stony Brook February 24, 1988.
- "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni. University of Delaware, November 11, 1987.
- A new sketch for Verdi's I due Foscari. Joint meeting of the American Institute for Verdi Studies and the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society, New York University, April 4, 1987.
- I due Macbeth: revisione critica e prassi esecutiva. Genova, Palazzo Tursi, January 13, 1986.
- Ricerca filologica e prassi esecutiva ne La Traviata. Modena, Collegio S. Carlo, December 16, 1985.
- Thoughts on the tonal structure of Verdi's Aida, Act III. Verdi-Wagner conference, Cornell University, October 19, 1984.
- Donizetti's Maria Padilla: preview of the opera. Conference on Donizetti and the Romantic Age in Italy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, April 22, 1983.
- Critical performers and critical editions (revised version). Joint meeting of the American Institute for Verdi Studies and the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society, New York University, March 19, 1983.
- Critical performers and critical editions. International Symposium: Perspectives of Verdi Studies, Vienna, March 12, 1983.
- The prison scene in Verdi's Il Corsaro. Cornell University, October 1982.
- Verdi's Il Corsaro: a new letter, and an analysis of the prison scene. International Symposium on 19th century music, Southampton, England, July 1982.
- The compositional and performance history of Verdi's Requiem. West Chester State College, West Chester, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1981.
- Wagner's orchestral sketch for Das Rheingold. Symposium on 19th century Germany, State University of New York at Stony Brook, December 1981.
- Verdi's Paris revisions of Il trovatore. Sixth International Congress of Verdi Studies, Irvine, California. April 1980.
- The harmonic language of Verdi's Aida. National meeting of the American Musicological Society, New York, November 2, 1979.
- Problems in editing Verdi's Macbeth and Il trovatore for performance. Greater New York Chapter of the Music Library Association, SUNY at Stony Brook, April 29, 1978.
- Problems in editing Macbeth for performance. Fifth International Congress of Verdi Studies, Danville, Kentucky, November 11, 1977.
- Thoughts on the "bacio" theme in Verdi's Otello. Joint meeting of the American Institute for Verdi Studies and the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society, New York University, December 1976.
- Who's afraid of Rigoletto? Invited lecture at the Melville Library, SUNY at Stony Brook, Spring 1974.
- Tonality and drama in Verdi's Nabucco, Act III. Verdi Symposium at New York University, April 19, 1973.
- Verdi's sketches for Rigoletto. Louis C. Elson Memorial Lecture, Harvard University, November 1972.
- Verdi's non-definitive revisions (co-author, David Rosen). Third International Congress of Verdi Studies, Milano, Summer 1972.
- Some observations on the last act of Verdi's Nabucco, with two unknown revisions of Fenena's prayer. Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society, City University of New York,, Graduate Center, Fall 1971.
- Some observations on the tonal structure of Verdi's Rigoletto. National meeting of the American Musicological Society, Study Session on 19th Century Opera, St. Louis, December 1969.
- Tonal action and dramatic action in the early Verdi operas. New England Chapter of the American Musicological Society, Dartmouth College, Fall 1969.
- The current state of Verdi research. Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society, Berkeley, Fall 1967.
- Per una bibliografia ragionata verdiana. Venice, First International Congress of Verdi Studies, Summer 1966.
- Mirrors: five movements for Violin, Oboe and Clarinet (1987)
- Three pieces for piano (1987)
- Four Joyce Songs (1987)
- Three Short pieces for Chamber orchestra (1988)
- Corelliana (1989)
- Research Grant, University of Chicago Press, Summer 1988.
- Faculty Grant-in-Aid, SUNY at Stony Brook, Spring 1985.
- Award for Excellence in Teaching, SUNY at Stony Brook, June 1973.
- Faculty Grant-in-Aid, SUNY, Stony Brook, June 1973.
- Grants-in-Aid, University of California at Berkeley, Summer 1966 and Spring 1968.
- Eisner Prize in the Creative Arts, University of California at Berkeley, 1966 and 1967.
- Alfred Hertz Memorial Traveling Fellowship in Music, University of California at Berkeley, 1963-1965.
- Honors in Music, University of California at Berkeley, June 1963.
- Phi Beta Kappa, Junior and Senior years, 1962-1963.
- Frank Kraft Memorial Prize, University of California at Berkeley, 1962.
- Two Undergraduate Scholarships, University of California at Berkeley, 1959-1961.
- American Institute for Verdi Studies, Secretary-Treasurer; Executive Board, Advisory Board.
- Opera America
- American Symphony Orchestra League
- Conductor's Guild
| BARAB | The game of chance | MOZART | Cosi fan tutte* |
 | | | Don Giovanni |
| BARBER | A hand of bridge | | Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail** |
| | | La finta giardiniera |
| BENDA | Medea (melodrama) | | Idomeneo |
| | | Le nozze di Figaro* |
| BERLIOZ | Beatrice et Benedict | | Der Schauspieldirektor |
| | | Die Zauberflote |
| BIZET | Carmen | | |
| La jolie fille de Perth | NICOLAI | Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor |
| CUMMINGS | Tonkin | | |
| | OFFENBACH | Les Contes d’Hoffmann |
| DONIZETTI | Anna Bolena | | |
| L’Assedio di Calais** | POULENC | Dialogues of the Carmelites |
| Don Pasquale | | |
| Maria Padilla | PUCCINI | La Boheme |
| Maria di Rohan** | | Madama Butterfly |
| Maria Stuarda | | Suor Angelica |
| Les Martyrs** | | |
| Roberto Devereux | ROREM | Three sisters who are not sisters |
| FALLA | El Retablo de Maese Pedro | | |
| | ROSSINI | La cambiale di matrimonio |
| GLUCK | Iphigenie en Tauride | | La Cenerentola |
| GOUNOD | Faust | SONDHEIM | A funny thing happened on the |
| | | way to the forum |
| HANDEL | Giulio Cesare | | |
| Tamerlano | J. STRAUSS | Die Fledermaus |
| HAYDN | La canterina | STRAVINSKY | Mavra |
| | TCHAIKOVSKY | Eugene Onegin** |
| HINDEMITH | Hin und zuruck | VERDI | Aida |
| | | Un ballo in maschera |
| HOLST | The wandering scholar | | Il Corsaro |
| | | Don Carlo (4 Act version) |
| HUMPERDINCK | Hänsel und Gretel | | Falstaff |
| | | Macbeth (1847 version)* |
| LEHAR | Die lustige Witwe | | Macbeth (1865 version)* |
| | | Rigoletto* |
| LEONCAVALLO | Pagliacci* | | Stiffelio |
| | | La traviata* |
| MASCAGNI | Cavalleria rusticana | | Le Trouvère* |
| L’amico Fritz | | Il trovatore* |
| MENOTTI | The old maid and the thief | WAGNER | Der fliegende Holländer |
| Amahl and the night visitors | | |
| | WARD | The crucible |
| | WEBER | Abu Hassan |
| | WEILL | Die Dreigroschenoper |
“Mr. Lawton has a natural feeling for tempo, a grasp of the way Verdi’s music moves, a command of balance between outer and inner voices which are altogether remarkable. To these virtues he adds the daring of a true dramatic conductor--the readiness to seize chances, to breathe and feel with the singers as some important moment approaches. (I can’t think why the Met and the City Opera aren’t competing to engage him. Have their talent scouts not attended his Verdi performances?)”
Andrew Porter, The New Yorker (Aida)
“David Lawton conducted with real fire. He showed an astonishingly powerful and idiomatic way with Verdi’s characteristic climaxes, and a control of rhythmic detail that, with music that gives so much freedom to the singers indicates more skill than it ordinarily would.”
Gregory Sandow, The Village Voice (Il Corsaro)
“Finally, one should mention David Lawton’s conducting. His tempi were judicious, his control exemplary; above all he demonstrated that the score reveals a wealth of subtle orchestral detail when approached with sensitivity and an experience of the genre.”
Roger Parker, Opera News (Maria Padilla)
“La finta giardiniera is a comedy punctuated with brief, potent surges of dark feeling and with interludes of time-suspending poignancy. David Lawton, the conductor, responded especially to these moments. His pacing of the finales (especially of the telling little transitions from one solo to another), his quiet accompaniment to the soprano aria ‘Geme la tortorella,’ and his feeling for the short-breathed agitato movements provided the performance’s keenest insights into the score.”
Will Crutchfield, The New York Times (La finta giardiniera)
“Conductor David Lawton not only directed a taut, well-balanced and superbly coordinated interpretation, he also supplied a text that goes back to Donizetti’s long-forgotten original.”
Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post (Maria Stuarda)
“Lawton and his players produced exceptional nuances of tone, phrasing, pace and color...It was superb conducting, unobtrusive yet absolutely essential to the excellence of the performance.”
Peter Goodman, New York Newsday (La traviata)
“David Lawton, author of the critical edition...has done the opera world a great service by restoring this glorious work...The Philharmonic played the energized tempos with precision and feeling. Lawton, a superb conductor, kept an appropriate balance between singers and the orchestra.”
Ellis Widner, The Tulsa Tribune (Le Trouvère)
“OperaDelaware undertook this ambitious premiere, presenting it in a stripped down, propulsive production by Harry Silverstein (seen Dec. 4), conducted with authority by David Lawton.”
Patrick J. Smith, Opera News (Tonkin)
“The real strength of Rigoletto was the presence of conductor David Lawton, who is also a Verdi scholar. Treating the score with respect, Lawton achieved luminous results from the Tulsa Philharmonic.”
Joseph Kestner, Opera Canada (Rigoletto)
“David Lawton, conducting from a photocopy of Bizet’s autograph score, approached the music with masterful appreciation for rhythmic subtlety, to which the orchestra responded with considerable polish.”
Tim Smith, Opera News (La jolie fille de Perth)
“Under the masterful baton of conductor David Lawton, the 45-piece orchestra is more than a match for Wagner’s magnificent score, and provides its share of thrilling moments throughout the evening.”
Rick Mulrooney, The News Journal (Der fliegende Holländer)