Mary Lawton

Currently assistant concertmaster with the WSO and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Mary Osoko Lawton is also the concertmaster of MusikBarock Ensemble. She received her Bachelor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario, where she studied with Betty Jean Hagan, and later received her Master’s degree from Yale University, where she studied with Sidney Harth. She was assistant concertmaster of both the National Ballet of Canada and the Esprit Orchestras in Toronto, and has performed as a member of many Canadian orchestras, including the Calgary Philharmonic, the Canadian Opera Orchestra, and Orchestra London.

Her extensive chamber music experiences have been encouraged by coaches Lorand Fenyves, Gilbert Kalish, Peter Oundjian, Menahem Pressler, and Jaap Shroder, and she was twice invited to the Banff Centre to act as concertmaster for the chamber productions Punch and Judy and Jackie O. Since moving to Winnipeg in 1997, she has also enjoyed working with The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society, Groundswell, and the Festival on the Red.