Martin Lass

Martin Lass (born 1958) is an American violinist and astrologer, who has spent many years in Australia.

Career

Violinist

Martin Lass was born in Chicago in 1958. His mother was of Hungarian ancestry, and claimed she had some Romany blood. He became interested in the violin at the age of 8, when he saw a television documentary about Yehudi Menuhin. His family migrated to Australia when he was 11. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, then joined the Australian Chamber Orchestra for four years. He also played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.

Lass's desire for a solo career led him to Bert Newton's New Faces in 1982, winning the Grand Final and People Choice awards. Then a touring career ensued, in which he combined classical, gypsy and popular genres including jazz, bluegrass and Celtic. He has also written much original material. He appeared as the Fiddler in two seasons of Fiddler on the Roof in Sydney.

He was a frequent television performer, and also supported major stars such as Luciano Pavarotti, Julio Iglesias and Joan Baez. He won the Mo Award for Instrumental Excellence seven years running (1984–90) and was voted the Variety Club Artist of the Year 1990. He recorded 10 CDs and sold over 250,000 albums.

He returned to the United States for ten years, but has returned to Australia.^[1]

Martin Lass's piano accompanist is his American-born wife Inge, who made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 14 and studied at the New England Conservatory from age 16.^[2] They have three children and two grandchildren.

Astrologer

Martin Lass has been a practising professional astrologer since the late 1980s.^[3] Lass has written astrological books and articles, and given presentations to astrological societies. His book, "Chiron - Healing Body and Soul" (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005),^[4] has become a definitive text about Chiron, the "planet" of Wounding and Healing. In addition to this, in Sydney, for eight years, Lass was a student of an esoteric school of self-knowledge under George M. Adie (1901–1989), a disciple of George Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky.^[1]

Composer

As a composer, Martin Lass's music encompasses classical art music to crossover music to popular music, with achievements and accolades in all areas, in Australia and overseas.^[5]

Highlight performances of original classical art music compositions

"Stories of Ray Bradbury" (1981) - Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra & BBC Philharmonic ^[6]

"Six Pieces for String Orchestra" (1980) - West Australian Symphony Orchestra under Dobbs Franks ^[7]

"Four Pieces for Violin and Piano 1980" - The Seymour Group directed by Vincent Plush, performed by John Harding (violinist) and David Stanhope (pianist), Sunday, June 22, 1980 ^[8]

Highlight composition usage (CD releases, radio airplay, and sync licensing)

NASA - Soundtrack for NASA's video, “3 Years of Sun in 3 Minutes” (Song: “A Lady's Errand of Love”) ( @ 0:19s) ^[9]
US Music Library: Inter Music Library - Trailer for re-release of classic French film, “La régle du jeu” (“The Rules of the Game”) (1939) (Song: “Bach-analia”) (2007) ( @ 0:53s) ^[10]
11 songs from CD release, “Sonnet” (classical crossover style) (2001) - Radio airplay by over 600 radio stations worldwide. Achieved No. 13 on the US “New Age Voice” charts.^[5] Several tracks released by third party record company, “Fanfare,” a label of Ambition Entertainment, Australia.^[11] Performances of a number of the songs by violinist, Patrick Roberts, of Australia, as well as being released on his latest album, “Vision” (Martin Lass songs: “Sonnet” and “Summersleep”) ^[12]

External links

References

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