Laurie Brown Kennedy has been principal violist and frequent soloist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra since 1981. She was the featured soloist with the PSO in 1997 for the opening of the newly renovated Merrill Auditorium. In October 2011, she performed the Bloch Suite Hebraique with the PSO, and in 2007 was soloist with violinist/conductor, Joseph Silverstein, in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.
Well known as a chamber music artist throughout the Northeast, Laurie has performed every summer for almost forty years at the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival. She became co-Music Director of this Festival in 1985, and served as Music Director from 2000 to 2015. She has been commended for “some of the most evocative programming on the Maine summer music scene” (Portland Press Herald 2011), and for hiring artists from around the country who play “with passion and precision” (PPH 2015) – “chamber music one would expect to hear at Lincoln Center” (PPH 2014). Laurie is also founder, co-director, and violist with Maine Mountain Chamber Music, which has presented a spring and fall series at the University of Maine at Farmington since 2002. She is highly regarded for designing and narrating the popular Music for Kids and Discovery programs at SLLMF, and for her devotion and enthusiasm in presenting classical music to school children throughout Maine. She teaches viola, violin and chamber music in the Farmington area.
At the age of 21, Laurie joined the viola section of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and later served as principal violist for the Vancouver Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic. A native of Massachusetts, she received her bachelor’s degree from Smith College with Distinction, and her master’s as well as the coveted Performers Certificate from Indiana University School of Music. Laurie has resided in Carthage, Maine since 1981. She is an avid gardener and enjoys cooking, hiking, camping, yoga, and traveling. Laurie, former music director of SLLMF, has performed at SLLMF since 1977.
[2020]