When there wasn’t an opening in his shop class at school, Andrew Lane signed up for band in the hopes that eventually that opening would appear. It never did, but despite the initial disappointment, music would become the path he chose to follow. He attended the University of South Florida and the University of Maryland as a horn major and studied basic conducting at both schools.
Andrew won a french horn position with the United States Navy Band in Washington DC (1982-86), a position that allowed him to do free-lance work in the DC area with the National Gallery Orchestra, American Chamber, Orchestra, Handel Festival Orchestra, Filene Center Orchestra (Wolf Trap), Kennedy Center Orchestra and Fairfax Symphony. It was during this period that Andrew learned brass instrument repair which eventually evolved into building the Lanstro French Horn in 2014.
Andrew returned to Florida after winning a full-time position with the Florida Symphony Orchestra, but the financial circumstances of the orchestra led to another career path. After the FSO folded, Andrew and his colleagues reorganized the remains of FSO and launched the Orlando Philharmonic. He was General Manager Orlando Philharmonic from 1993 – 1997 and became its Resident and Principal Pops Conductor until 2010. This shift into conducting would eventually lead him to the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1994, where he was compelled to pass on the legacies that were given to him as a student. He would continue this when he began his work with the Sarasota Orchestra in 2003 as its principal Pops Conductor and conductor of the Sarasota Youth Orchestra.
After a full career as a performer, conductor and educator Andrew returned to the place where his journey into music was ignited – the shop. Andrew is the owner and craftsman/builder of Lanstro Horns
