Laurence Libin is honorary curator of Steinway & Sons, emeritus curator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, past president of the Organ Historical Society, and editor-in-chief of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK) and of the Likhachev Foundation (RU), he has received the Anthony Baines Memorial Prize of the Galpin Society and the Curt Sachs Award from the American Musical Instrument Society, both for lifetime achievement in the field of organology. Libin has taught in the graduate schools of Columbia and New York University as well as in Mexico, Japan, and across Europe. He advises numerous cultural institutions as well as private collectors, and advocates internationally for preservation and documentation of endangered musical instruments.

The 2018-19 Virginia Martin Howard Lecture Series, sponsored by the Stearns Collection of Music Instruments, features presentations by distinguished international scholars and performers focus work in the areas of ethnomusicology, historical musicology, and organology. Lecture topics range from instrument restoration and conservation to African one-string fiddles to vintage music synthesizers.