Amy Lawrence of West Windsor and her colleagues, Maria Tegzes and Geoffrey Burleson, will be performing a concert that has been in the making for 10 years. Lawrence and Tegzes were roommates at the New England Conservatory of Music. Burleson, a piano player, was Tegzes’ future husband. It took that long for them to be in the same country at the same time, find a venue, and find a cause to benefit from their music. “I was in Europe for eight years, and they were busy,” says Lawrence. They will perform at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 177 Princeton-Hightstown Road, West Windsor, on Sunday, June 24, at 3 p.m. The concert will benefit Make Some Noise Cure Kids Cancer Foundation.
Lawrence, a soprano, has lived in West Windsor for six years. Her husband, Andrew Schaeffer, is a copyright attorney. Their daughter, Sara, 6, is a rising first grader at Dutch Neck School.
Born in Pennsylvania, Lawrence was raised in New Orleans. She has played the flute since fourth grade. In high school she became interested in musical theater and began taking voice lessons and entering competitions. Lawrence teaches singing and flute privately and is a member of the preferred private teachers of the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District.
She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in music and placed first in the Metropolitan Opera National competition for the Gulf coast region. She was also a semi-finalist in Vienna’s Belvedere International competition. She received a master’s in music from the New England Conservatory of Music.
A frequent guest soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, she has played in principal opera houses in Norway, Germany, Switzerland, New Orleans, and New York City. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in the American premiere of Goossens’ re-orchestration of Handel’s Messiah. Lawrence is known for her portrayals of Mozart’s leading ladies including Konstanze (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Madame Herz (The Impressario), and Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute).
Lawrence became acquainted with the Make Some Noise: Cure Kids Cancer Foundation when her daughter’s swim team at Peddie School had a fundraiser. She then became acquainted with the music director at Prince of Peace Church. “They were trying to get more musical events and we were looking for a venue,” says Lawrence.
The organization, established by an 11-year-old who had a malignant bone tumor, funds pediatric cancer research. (He is now 13). The designation of funds to various research facilities is cancer-specific and based on the foundation’s annual evaluation of the latest research.
Burleson has performed throughout Europe and North America and is active as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and jazz performer. He is also an associate professor of music and director of piano studies at Hunter College and a professor of piano at Princeton University. Tegzes has presented cabaret performances in the United States, Spain, England, and Switzerland. The couple lives on Long Island.
The program includes classical works; solo sets of Saint-Saens, Sietes Canciones Populares by Manuel de Falla, Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs,” Eastern European Folksongs, and the Trio from Mozart’s “The Impressario.”
— Lynn Miller
Benefit Concert, Make Some Noise Cure Kids Cancer Foundation, Prince of Peace Church, 177 Princeton-Hightstown Road, West Windsor. Sunday, June 24, 3 p.m. Suggested donation is $10. 609-647-4393 or www.makenoise4kids.org.
