laura carmichael is a clarinetist...

As a rebellious classical musician, Laura contended with the paradox of loving the classics while being irresistibly pulled to challenge the status quo. Grounded in the tradition, she has played with orchestras like the San Francisco Symphony. However it was her love for improvisation, collaboration and creating new work that led her to perform with major contemporary music ensembles in Europe, including MusikFabrik, Ensemble MAE, and her own projects like Duo X. Creative collaboration with artists and composers from Julio Estrada and Toshio Hosokawa to Michael Gordon and Cindy Cox, drove more than two decades of innovative performance practices and re-evaluation of audience interactions. Along the way she became an expert in how to strategically bear the discomfort of ambiguity in order to invoke originality. These skills proved invaluable as she transitioned into a second career in leadership development, organizational development and team coaching. She has since worked with over 25 major global brands as a consultant and internal employee.