New Musical Leadership
Concert Experience #1 of our 92nd season, Where it all Began will be the last for our conductor and music director for the past 12 years George Ogata. The members of the Orchestra wish the best for George in his future endeavors.
The Reading Symphony Orchestra is happy to announce that our next conductor and musical director will be Lawrence Issacson.
Conductor Lawrence Isaacson brings decades of high-level artistic leadership, dynamic programming, and passion for community engagement to his new role as Music Director of the Reading Symphony Orchestra. Known for creating interactive and memorable concert experiences, Mr. Isaacson served for a decade as Founder and Music Director of Boston’s Symphony Nova and has been a featured guest conductor at the Aspen Music Festival for over 25 years. His conducting resume also includes guest engagements with the Oregon Symphony, Longwood Symphony, Concord Orchestra, and the Round Top and Eastern Music Festivals.
Before taking the podium full-time, Maestro Isaacson built a distinguished Trombone career performing worldwide with world-class ensembles including the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and the Empire Brass. Currently Professor of Conducting and Trombone at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, he brings a deep wealth of performance and leadership experience to the Reading Symphony Orchestra's next chapter. For more information about Maestro Isaacson, see his personal website at www.LawrenceIsaacson.com.
Featured Soloist for Concert Experience #1
Concert Experience #1, Where it all Began, features viola soloist Laura Anne Bossert.
Laura Anne Bossert, violinist and violist, is a Silver Medalist of the Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition and has earned recognition for her artistry as a soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. She is widely regarded as one of the most respected and sought-after teachers of her generation.
Ms. Bossert has been a member of the Senior Performance Faculty at Wellesley College for more than 25 years. She previously served as Associate Professor of Violin & Viola at Syracuse University's Setnor School of Music (2016–2019). In the summer months, she teaches and performs at the Castleman Quartet Program, LyricaFest and the ArtsAhimsa msusic festivals.
As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Shanghai, Muir, Invoke, Cassatt and Lark String Quartets, as well as violinists Elmar Oliveira and Joseph Silverstein, violists Paul Neubauer and Kim Kashkashian, and cellists Paul Katz, David Finckel and Nathaniel Rosen. As an improvisational violinist, Laura has toured with David Amram and Chuck Mangione's original Feel So Good band and was a frequent guest artist with Boston's Cello Chix.
Her students hold positions with the San Francisco, National, Milwaukee, Toronto and Baltimore Symphonies, the Handel and Haydn Society, Santa Fe Opera, A Far Cry and BBC Radio Orchestras, as well as the Helsinki, Santiago and Royal Philharmonics. They are members of the Hausmann and Cecilia String Quartets and teach at the New England Conservatory, University of Virginia, San Diego State University and the Royal Conservatory of Music. They have also received multiple Grammy nominations and been awarded top prizes in national and international competitions, including Young Concert Artists, Fischoff, Spohr, the Banff and Miami String Quartet Competitions, and the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Laura resides in Lincoln, Massachusetts, with her husband, cellist Terry King. Together, they direct LyricaFest, a chamber music festival for college and conservatory students, and the Citizens' Artist Orchestra of Lyrica Boston, Inc., a nonprofit educational and community outreach organization that serves as Ensemble in Residence at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program.
Tickets for Concert Experience #1 Are now Available
To get more information about the first concert experience of our 92nd season, check out the details for our 2026-2027 Season
