Michael R. Lawrence is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and screenwriter living in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He has produced documentary films for PBS, HBO, CNN, and the Library of Congress, as well as making independent films.

Life

While still a teenager, Michael Lawrence performed widely on the guitar and five-string banjo in the Midwest and on the East Coast, both as a folk instrumentalist and vocalist. This included a summer as banjoist with The Stephen Foster Story in

Bardstown, Kentucky Bardstown is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 11,700 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nelson County. Bardstown is named for the pioneering Bard brothers. David Bard obtained a l ...

. Lawrence studied classical guitar with Aaron Shearer, composition with Stephan Grové, and jazz with David Baker. A graduate of the first guitar class at The

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869), ...

of Music (The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University). Mr. Lawrence performed widely on the classical guitar - in recitals as well as on radio and television. Prior to producing films, Mr. Lawrence composed original music for over a dozen films, including Julian Krainin's Emmy Award-winning documentary ''The Other Americans'', which won more awards than any other television documentary in 1969, and was honored with a special screening at the White House. Lawrence has written, produced, and directed over twenty documentaries. His films have been honored by awards from major film festivals around the world. He has initiated personal film projects that have received production grants from both local and national foundations, including the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. The

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

funded three of his productions. Lawrence also serves as film editor on all his documentary productions. In 1990, Julian Krainin and Michael Lawrence began working together to jointly produce documentaries, television movies, and theatrical motion pictures. Their first project was the documentary ''The Quiz Show Scandal'', which Lawrence directed for

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

. After seeing the PBS broadcast, Robert Redford became interested in the story and eventually directed the Disney Oscar-nominated feature '' Quiz Show'', starring

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...

. Krainin produced while Lawrence assisted by writing an initial dramatic treatment. Michael Lawrence initiated the 2004 Emmy Award- and Peabody Award-winning HBO original movie ''

Something the Lord Made ''Something the Lord Made'' is a 2004 American made-for-television biographical drama film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas (1910–1985) and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899–1964), th ...

'', for which he wrote an original dramatic treatment and which Mr. Krainin produced. Michael Lawrence wrote and directed the first film ever commissioned by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, titled ''Memory and Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress''. Lawrence's documentary ''Bach & Friends'' combines Lawrence's passion for music and filmmaking and was released in early 2010. ''Bach & Friends'' brings together many today's most renowned musicians and captures them playing Bach and discussing his legacy. The variety of performances in the film include Bach renditions on the organ, piano, cello, violin, banjo, guitar, double bass, ukulele, mandolin, glass harp, and string quartet. Among the film's many unique moments is a scene in which musicians are scanned in an

fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area ...

machine in an effort to study the neural basis of musical improvisation.

Filmography

*''Bach & Friends'', 2010. This two-hour documentary explores the power of Bach's music through interviews and performances including: Zuill Bailey, Manuel Barrueco, John Bayless, Joshua Bell, Uri Caine, Simone Dinnerstein, The

Emerson String Quartet The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is an American string quartet that was initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and beg ...

, Béla Fleck, Philip Glass, Glenn Gould (in re-performance), Hilary Hahn, Matt Haimovitz, Mike Hawley, Felix Hell, Dr. Anatoly Larkin, Bobby McFerrin, Sid Meier, Edgar Meyer, Tim Page, Peter Schickele, Jake Shimabukuro, Richard Stoltzman, The Swingle Singers, Chris Thile, Dr. John Q. Walker, and Marc Wienert. *''Manuel Barrueco: A Gift and A Life'', 2006. An hour documentary on internationally acclaimed classical guitar concert and recording artist Manuel Barrueco. *''Aaron Shearer: A Life with the Guitar'', 2005. An hour documentary celebrating the life and work of Aaron Shearer "the most influential classic guitar author and teacher of the 20th Century." *''The John Glenn Story: A Return to Space and Return of the Hero'', 1998. Two one-hour documentaries for CNN Productions with John Glenn and Walter Cronkite. *''Deadly Mail'', 1996. The search for the elusive serial bomber, the Unabomber. HBO's America Undercover. It was in the final editing stage when Theodore Kaczynski was apprehended. Sheila Nevins (head of documentaries at HBO) decided to drop the project because the theme of the mystery man bomber was now known and no longer a mystery. *''The Quiz Show Scandal'', 1992. A look at one of the most bizarre and disillusioning chapters in the history of broadcasting. American Experience, PBS. *''Getting Away with Murder'', 1991. A true story of terror in the small Vermont town of Essex. Based on the book "Death of Innocence" by Peter Meyer, Lawrence's script was developed for ABC Television. *''Memory & Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress'', 1990. The memory bank of mankind. With Stewart Brand, Julia Child, Francis Ford Coppola, Steve Jobs,

Ted Koppel Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for ''Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005. Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 years as a broadc ...

Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

, and

Richard Saul Wurman Richard Saul Wurman (born March 26, 1935) is an American architect and graphic designer. Wurman has written, designed, and published 90 books and created the TED conferences, the EG Conference, TEDMED, and the WWW Conference. Education and ho ...

. *''Plutonium'', 1986. A 15-minute theatrical trailer. Key scenes from Mr. Lawrence's original screenplay for a low-budget thriller on nuclear terrorism. Screened at the Independent Feature Market. *''Lives of the City'', 1982. A film essay on mankind's greatest invention: the city. *''The Mind of Music'', 1980. An exploration of the magical force of music in the lives of human beings. A personal film essay with

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional techniqu ...

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

, and Dr.

Lewis Thomas Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913 – December 3, 1993) was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher. Thomas was born in Flushing, New York and attended Princeton University ...

. *''The 30-Second Dream'', 1978. The seductive power of television advertising. A look at the multi-billion-dollar fantasy world of television commercials. *''The Shared Experience'', 1977. The evolution of human thought and culture. A broad look at information and the transmission of human experience across the ages with

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

, Alexander Marchack, Dr.

, and

William Irwin Thompson William Irwin Thompson (16 July 1938—8 November 2020) was an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He described his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz ...

. *''Koinonia'', 1975. A look at daily life in a 40-member alternative educational and spiritual community. *''Spacecraft America'', 1973. A satire on politics and media in America, focusing on Richard Nixon's second inauguration.

References

External links

* *
''Bach & Friends'' Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Michael Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American documentary filmmakers