Lawrence Leonard (August 23, 1923 – January 4, 2001) was a British conductor, cellist, composer, teacher and writer.Leonard received his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music and the École Normale de Musique de Paris. His musical career began at age 16 as an orchestral cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra, playing under such conductors as Sir Henry Wood, Richard Strauss and Leopold Stokowski. He was Associate Conductor of the BBC Northern Orchestra and Assistant Conductor to Sir John Barbirolli at the Hallé Orchestra (1963-1968).