Rebecca Lawrence

Devoted to radical creativity and community-building, Rebecca Lawrence (she/her/hers or they/them/theirs)’s artistic practice explores contemporary and traditional classical music performance, renaissance and baroque historical performance practice, free improvisation, experimental, pop, folk music, modern art, political activism, and social equity. She is actively involved in the creation, discovery and interpretation of new repertoire.

As a double bassist, Rebecca has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Banff Centre, the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Bang On A Can collective, WasteLAnd, and the Redlands Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with artists such as François Rabbath, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Wolfgang Rihm, George Benjamin, Nicholas Deyoe, Steve Schick, Miya Masaoka, George Lewis, Veronika Krausas, Vijay Gupta, Nicole Mitchell, David Fulmer and others. She also performs regularly as a viola da gamba player in the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia, and as an improvisor on both double bass and viola da gamba.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor’s degree and will earn her Masters in 2021 from the USC Thornton School of Music, where she studied double bass with David Allen Moore and Paul Ellison. In 2018, she was granted a residency at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, France, to study with bassist and pedagogue François Rabbath.  She’s appeared in summer festivals at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Lucerne Festival, Bang On A Can at MassMOCA, Ojai Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Silkroad Institute, Institut Domaine Forget, and the Wabass Institute.

As an activist and educator, Rebecca works with various initiatives promoting accessibility and equality in the arts. She is a founding member of the Project for All Gender Equality and spoke on a panel at the 2019 International Society of Bassists convention. She collaborates frequently with LA’s Street Symphony, led by Macarthur Genius Vijay Gupta. Additionally, she is a founding member of the new commissioning collective Bass Players for Black Composers.

            Rebecca divides her time between Los Angeles and Seattle. She plays on a 2013 Paolo Roberti double bass with bows by Pierre-Yves Fuchs and Coen Engelhardt.