Named by Musical America as one of classical music’s Top 30 Influencers for 2015, Texas native, Alecia Lawyer, is the Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Oboist of ROCO, a professional music ensemble that flexes from 1 to 40 musicians from around the U.S. and Canada, including guest conductors from around the world. Expanding the repertoire, ROCO has commissioned and world premiered 79 works from living composers. The group performs dozens of concerts annually in multiple venues throughout Houston, many of which are broadcast nationally and live streamed to the world. Known as “The Most Fun You Can Have with Serious Music!” ROCO has been called a trailblazer and arts disrupter and is leading the sector in innovation.
Calling her business model “Wildcatting in the Arts”, Ms. Lawyer was named a finalist for Texas Musician of the Year (along with Willie Nelson), was listed as one of Houston’s Top 50 Most Influential Women, and is a proud member of the Institute for Composer Diversity. She regularly presents her entrepreneurial model and dynamic ideas to conservatories, universities, and music festivals around the US using ROCO as a case study for community-specific orchestral building.
Recordings of her performances with ROCO can be heard at https://roco.org/performance-archive/. Alecia and her husband, Larry, have two fantastic sons, Jacob, 20 and Zachary, 16.