Josh Lawrence

Josh Lawrence is a critically acclaimed trumpeter, composer, bandleader, and recording artist who serves as Director of Jazz Studies at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

A "preeminent voice among young composers" (Downbeat 2017), Lawrence has received awards from and produced commissions for the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage (From the Vine), American Composers Forum (Mind Behind Closed Eyes), Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Life Mosaic), Revive X Metropolitan Museum of Art (Harlem Suite), Chamber Music America (Lost Works Live), Come Hear North Carolina (We Insist! FCO + Melanie Charles), and Festival of New Trumpet Music (Philly Twisted).

Lawrence has recorded five solo albums with Posi-Tone Records, two albums with Ropeadope Records co-leading the Fresh Cut Orchestra, received two Grammy Award nominations with pianist Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band and Smoke Sessions Records, and can be heard on albums by Boyz II Men, Erykah Badu, Jazmine Sullivan, Laurin Talese, Jonathan Michel, Caleb Curtis, Tarbaby, Adam Baldych, and Brian Marsella’s Imaginarium.

Lawrence holds a Bachelor degree from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, a Master degree from the Juilliard School in New York, and studied with legendary pianist Barry Harris. In 2021, Lawrence was named Director of Jazz Studies at Interlochen Center for the Arts where he now leads the Arts Academy and Summer Camp programs and conducts the Interlochen Jazz Orchestra.