Lawrence Edelson has earned an international reputation as an innovative Director, able to fuse vivid story telling with deeply expressive imagery, and has been praised by Opera Now magazine as doing a “splendid job of making (opera) relevant and understandable.” Lawrence received his Bachelor’s Degree in Stage Direction from New York University. Lawrence’s original productions include the American Premiere of Telemann’s Orpheus for Wolf Trap Opera; La Traviata for The Minnesota Opera, a double-bill of La Serva Padrona and Trouble in Tahiti for the Adler Fellows of San Francisco Opera at Opera Santa Barbara, Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox for Fort Worth Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Hawaii Opera Theater; Carmen for Toledo Opera; the New York premiere of Fauré’s rarely produced Pénélope for Manhattan School of Music; Cosi fan tutte for Boston University’s Opera Institute at the Huntington Theater; La Voix Humaine at New York’s Maison Française; and the World Premiere of The ToyMaker off-Broadway as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival.  He has been a guest member on the directing staff of New York City Opera, where he restaged Little Women twice: for the work’s Lincoln Center premiere, and for the company’s tour to Japan. Since 2008, Lawrence has also been a faculty member at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, where he leads seminars on American opera, and has directed original productions of Adamo’s Little Women, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream,  Massenet’s Werther, and Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. 

Before focusing on Directing, Lawrence enjoyed a diverse performing career in Ballet, Musical Theater, and Opera. He originally studied voice and musicology at The University of Ottawa in Canada, and dance at The Joffrey Ballet School in New York. As a dancer, he performed diverse repertoire with Boston Ballet, Ballet West, and BalletMet Columbus, including world premieres by Merce Cunningham, Donald Byrd and André Prokovsky. While still a student, Lawrence founded the New Choreographer’s Workshop at The Joffrey Ballet School, which continues to flourish today. He has choreographed for ballet and opera companies internationally including Bedtime Stories for BalletMet Columbus; Bright Blue for Boston Ballet’s DRF Gala; Symphonic Etudes for the Joffrey Concert Dancers; Patience for New York City Opera; Carmen for Opera Columbus; Orpheus in the Underworld for Des Moines Metro Opera; and productions of Chérubin and Le Coq d’Or in Tel Aviv. As a singer, Mr. Edelson appeared in opera, oratorio and musical-theater. His roles included The Magician in The Consul, Tybalt in Romeo et Juliette, Der Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, Mercury in Orpheus in the Underworld, Lucano in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Ricardo in Chérubin, Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmelites, the Tenor Soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Charpentier’s Te Deum, and Baby John in West Side Story.

Lawrence also completed his Master’s Degree in Performing Arts Administration at New York University, authoring his thesis Opera: The Irrelevant Art: Uniting Marketing and Organizational Strategy to Combat the Depopularization of Opera in the United States. He has consulted on projects for MCC Theater, Opera Orchestra of New York, New York City Opera, and on the cultural development of Lower Manhattan for New York City councilmember Alan Gerson. In 2005, Lawrence founded American Lyric Theater in New York City, and serves as its Producing Artistic Director. In this capacity, Mr. Edelson coordinates the diverse artistic programs of ALT, including the commissioning of new works, and the only full time program for emerging opera composers and librettists in the United States. Lawrence was responsible for the commissioning and development of The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which received its critically acclaimed world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June 2010 in a production directed by James Robinson with designs by Tony Award winner Martin Paklendinaz. Lawrence is currently overseeing the development of multiple projects at ALT including The Poe Project, a trilogy of one-act operas inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, and La Reina, an electro-acoustic opera with text in Spanish and English that draws its narrative from the ongoing war against drugs in Mexico and the United States.