Australian violist William Lane has a growing reputation as a solo artist, chamber musician, improviser, artistic director and collaborator. Recipient of a number of large scholarships and prize-winner at various international competitions, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician all over Australasia, Asia, Europe and North America. He studied under Jan Sedivka, Bruno Giuranna and Garth Knox, as well as in Germany at the International Ensemble Modern Akademie.
He is Artistic Director and Violist of ‘Grenzenlos’, a twenty-member New York/ Berlin/ Melbourne network of musicians dedicated to inter-cultural collaboration through the medium of new music. Grenzenlos’s 2007-2008 season include concerts in over seven countries, and developing long-term artistic collaborations in particularly non-Western countries (particularly India and China). In 2007 William will spend some time in India performing and researching as resident Asialink fellow of the ORKA-M International Institute of Innovative Music in Mumbai.
William Lane is Acting Principal Viola of the string orchestra Ensemble Resonanz (Hamburg), as well as working on a freelance basis with Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), the SMASH Ensemble (Salamance, Spain), and with members of ‘Grenzenlos’ on various freelance projects. As an orchestral musician he has worked with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and as Principal Viola with the Australian Youth Orchestra. Highlights of the 2007-08 season include performances with Ensemble Resonanz in Germany and the Middle East; solo recitals in New York, Australia, France, Italy and Mexico; and developing long-term artistic collaborations with interesting personalities, for example Samson Young (composer/ video artist) and Sebastien Roux (IRCAM-based sound artist). In addition, he will guest lecture and perform at universities in Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Mexico and the U.S.A.
He has worked closely with some of the world’s great composers of today, including Helmut Lachenmann, Georges Aperghis, Steve Reich, Emmanuel Nunes and Gyorgy Kurtag; and has commissioned over a dozen exciting new works for viola.
William Lane's first solo CD is due for release in mid-2009.
