One important indication all went well and the effort was worth it occurred when Louise Fishman led a standing ovation in the Chelsea, New York symphony hall.

There, on stage March 21, bathing in the applause, were Blair Lawhead, his brother, Brandon, and their father, Donaldson.

It was a first for the trio of Lawheads.

Obviously the symphony orchestra liked their music if Fishman, the renowned artist, whose works hang in New York’s Guggenheim Museum among other prestigious galleries, was beaming her smile and enthusiastically applauding the performance with the entire audience.

The talented family’s patriarch, Donaldson Lawhead, said the Chelsea Symphony was one of the most interesting orchestral concepts and that he was “proud to support it and very enthusiastic about being able to participate.”

His son, Brandon, expressed the younger generation’s appreciation for the opportunity to perform with their father.

“The concert was a huge success,” said Brandon after returning to Austin, where he lives.

“It was a wonderful and surprisingly rare opportunity to perform with Dad and Blair,” he said. “I can count on one hand the number of times I have played, while Dad has conducted, or played a duet with Blair.”

“The day-to-day grind of work, in addition to other familial commitments when there is free time, made this a rare, and pleasant moment, indeed,” he said.

The Lawheads are, indeed, music treasures, beginning with the boys’ father.

Just how much Austin knows of the deep roots in music held by Donaldson V. Lawhead is unknown, but they are profound and multi-faceted.

The father is a native of Indianapolis, Ind. He earned his bachelor and master of music degrees in conducting and composition from Indiana University at Bloomington.

He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.

The work, which brought the Lawheads together on the New York stage, Rondo for Strings, Harp, and Brass was first premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and has been performed by the Chicago Symphony and St. Louis Symphony.

In addition, Lawhead is a published composer; his works having been performed by Josef Gingold, violin, the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra.

Lawhead has served as chairman of the composition and theory department at Western Illinois University. He also served as music director and conductor of the Contemporary Music Series. Lawhead was one of only 10 selected to serve as composer-in-residence under a two-year Ford Foundation grant. After completing the grant, he packed up his family, including wife, Tammy, and moved from Chicago to New Orleans, where he played in jazz clubs of the French Quarter and throughout the city. During this period, he was the first trumpet teacher for Wynton Marsalis and additionally taught in many of the New Orleans’ parochial schools.

As a teen living in Indianapolis, he played in jazz groups with David Baker and guitarist Wes Montgomery, international jazz star.

Lawhead also collaborated with Stan Kenton’s drummer, John Von Ohlen, who is a recording artist with Mel Tormé and Rosemary Clooney and many others.

Lawhead has performed with Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Stan Kenton, and others.

Recently, he recorded a jazz compact disc recording with the Jazz Missionaries which included engagements at the Dakota Grill Jazz Club in Minneapolis.

One of his jazz pieces, Stout Blues, has been published with repeat editions for over 20 years.

Lawhead is a practicing attorney and senior partner at Lawhead Law Offices in Austin.

Brandon

Lawhead

It’s a long way from the Old-Time Fiddlers Contest at the Mower County Fair to the Chelsea Symphony stage in New York, but an easy and expected transition for Brandon Lawhead.

As his Mower County Fair duties attest, he can “fiddle,” too.

He is also the most talkative member of the Lawhead music family.

He started the violin at the age of 6 under the instruction of Almita Vamos at Western Illinois University.

“I wanted to play the violin mostly because my older brother, Blair, played it,” he said. “Dad finally agreed to enroll me in lessons after I continually pestered him, and Blair expressed exasperation, because I was playing with Blair’s violin.”

At the time, “Dad was a music theory instructor at Western Illinois University,” he continued, “So Dad enrolled me in the Talent Education Program, then featuring the ‘new’ concept of the Suzuki Method.”

Brandon then took lessons from Susan Radloff, studied with David O. Jordahl, and Philip Burkhart through the Austin Public Schools music education system.

He subsequently attended the American Suzuki Festival at Steven’s Point, WS, where he was a featured soloist. “I played the Vivaldi Concerto in A minor,” he said.

He then studied with Hyacinthe Tlucek, first violinist in the Minnesota Orchestra, who had also instructed Blair.

He was a finalist in the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition and won the Minnesota Music Education Association concerto competition.

In his father’s and older brother Blair’s footsteps, he attended Indiana University, where he studied with Henryk Kowalski at Indiana University in Bloomington. “Blair had previously studied with professor Kowalski,” he recalled. “At that time, however, Blair was studying with Joseph Gingold.”

This recollection prompted another story from the Lawhead library of family music history.

“At one lesson, professor Kowalski gave me his personal music with Mr. Gingold’s fingerings in it,” he said. “He cautioned me, ‘Don’t lose this or your brother loses a teacher.’”

Before becoming an attorney, his passion for music dominated his life.

“Up to that time, I had always wanted to be a violin soloist,” he said. “While I was in a practice room at Indiana University Music School, I could hear Joshua Bell practicing next to me.”

“Josh Bell was in Gingold’s class at the time with Blair,” he said. “After listening to Mr. Bell, suffice it to say that I saw more job openings in law, than in my music solo career.”

Bell is, of course, the premier solo violin artist on the symphony stage today.

He returned to Minnesota and graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College with a bachelor’s of arts degree. While at St. Olaf College, he was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta (historical honor society), won the concerto competition on two different occasions, and was featured soloist on the St. Olaf Orchestra’s tour debut in New York. His solo performances with the St. Olaf Orchestra were broadcast on public radio and television.

He has played in countless professional orchestras, and numerous commercial engagements, including performances with The Who, The Moody Blues, Johnny Mathis, and Roberta Flack.

He graduated from William Mitchell College of Law, and is currently a practicing attorney in Austin.

Married, he and his wife, Jennifer, have three children, Brock, Tammara, and William.

Brock is currently studying the violin, making it three generations of Lawheads to share the passion.

Blair

Lawhead

Blair Lawhead will be inducted into the new Austin High School Music Hall of Fame in May.

He currently lives in New York (in Chelsea).

He studied at Indiana University School of Music with Franco Gulli and legendary artist/teacher Josef Gingold.

Further studies on the violin included a violin scholarship with Raphael Bronstein at the Manhattan School of Music, where Blair received his bachelor of music degree in violin performance.

He subsequently taught at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

This Lawhead described himself as a “working musician” and it seems most apt.

His introduction to the commercial music scene was in the form of a personal request from Michael Reed, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music director, to join the original company of the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. From there, 12 Borady Show contracts followed, including concertmaster and solo violinist for Annie and The Secret Garden.

Other work included performances with Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Natalie Cole, Clay Aiken, and others.

He made solo recordings in New York and Los Angeles for Barbara Streisand heard in the movie “The Mirror Has Two Faces” and the “Higher Ground” albums.

As a freelance musician, he had a prominent presence in most groups that make up the New York concert life, and he served as acting concertmaster of the Kennedy Center Opera Hous Orchestra, and Los Angeles State Theater.

One stage one Saturday afternoon in New York, three Lawheads made family music history.