Julian Lloyd Webber

{{short description|British cellist and conductor (born 1951)}}

{{British barrelled name|Lloyd Webber|Webber}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Julian Lloyd Webber

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}

| image = Julian Lloyd Webber 2013.jpg

| image_upright = 1.3

| caption = Lloyd Webber performing in 2013

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|04|14|df=yes}}

| death_date =

| occupation = {{hlist|Cellist|conductor|music educator}}

| alma_mater = Royal College of Music

| years_active = 1971–present

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

  • {{marriage|Celia Ballantyne|1974|1989|end=divorced}}
  • {{marriage|Zohra Mahmoud Ghazi|1989|1998|end=divorced}}
  • {{marriage|Kheira Bourahla|2001|2008|end=divorced}}
  • {{marriage|Jiaxin Cheng|2009}}

}}

| children = 2

| father = William Lloyd Webber

| relatives = {{Plainlist|

}}

}}

Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme.

Early years and education

Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer and music educator William Lloyd Webber and his wife, Jean Johnstone (a piano teacher). He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The composer Herbert Howells was his godfather.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3665153/How-I-fell-in-love-with-E-Es-darling.html|title=How I fell in love with E E's darling|date=17 May 2007|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/137616335@N08/50386137221/|title=Herbert Howells|date=26 September 2020|via=Flickr.com}} He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1968 and completed his studies with Pierre Fournier in Geneva in 1973.{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/136752978@N02/27323904921/|title=Letter from Pierre Fournier|date=1 June 2016|via=Flickr.com}}

File:Royal College of Music - April 2007.jpg in London.]]

Career

Lloyd Webber made his professional debut as a cellist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in September 1972 when he gave the first London performance of the cello concerto by Sir Arthur Bliss. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, including conductors Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Mark Elder, Andrew Davis, Charles Mackerras and Esa-Pekka Salonen, pianists Clifford Curzon and Murray Perahia as well as Stéphane Grappelli, Elton John and Cleo Laine. He was described in The Strad as the "doyen of British cellists".Andrew Mikolajski: The Strad, July 1984.{{full citation needed|date=June 2024|reason=Article title? Page?}}

His many recordings include his BRIT Award-winning Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin (chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine),Jerrold Northrop Moore: "Building a Library", BBC Music Magazine, September 1992. the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Václav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and a coupling of Britten's Cello Symphony and Walton's Cello Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields which was described as "beyond any rival" by Edward Greenfield in Gramophone magazine,[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/brittenwalton-works-for-cello-and-orchestra "Britten/Walton Works for Cello and Orchestra"], review by Edward Greenfield, Gramophone He has also made several recordings of shorter pieces for Universal Classics including Made in England, Cello Moods, Cradle Song and English Idyll.

Lloyd Webber has premiered the recordings of more than 50 works, inspiring new compositions for cello from composers as diverse as Malcolm Arnold (Fantasy for Cello, 1986, and Cello Concerto, 1989), Joaquín Rodrigo (Concierto como un divertimento, 1982) James MacMillan (Cello Sonata No. 2, 2001), and Philip Glass (Cello Concerto, 2001). More recent concert performances have included four further works composed for Lloyd Webber – Michael Nyman's Double Concerto for Cello and Saxophone on BBC Television, Gavin Bryars's Concerto in Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Glass's Cello Concerto at the Beijing International Festival and Eric Whitacre's The River Cam at the Southbank Centre. His recording of the Glass concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Gerard Schwarz was released on Glass' Orange Mountain label in September 2005.

Other recordings include The Art of Julian Lloyd Webber (2011), Evening Songs (2012), A Tale of Two Cellos (2013), Vivaldi Concertos for Two Cellos together with Jiaxin Cheng (2014) and his debut recording as a conductor of English music for strings And the Bridge Is Love (2015).

In May 2009, Lloyd Webber was elected President of the Elgar Society in succession to Sir Adrian Boult, Lord Menuhin, and Richard Hickox.{{cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/artists/julian-lloyd-webber/news/julian-lloyd-webber-president-elgar-society/|title=Julian Lloyd Webber President of Elgar Society|publisher=Classic FM|date=3 June 2009|access-date=2012-12-15}}

On 28 April 2014, Lloyd Webber announced his retirement from public performance as a cellist because of a herniated disc in his neck which reduced the power in his bow arm.{{cite web | author=Imogen Tilden | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/28/cellist-julian-lloyd-webber-announces-retirement-from-peforming | title=Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber announces retirement from performing |work=The Guardian| date=2014-04-28 | access-date=2014-12-25}} His final public performance as a cellist was on 2 May 2014 at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, with the English Chamber Orchestra.

In September 2014, the charity Live Music Now announced Lloyd Webber as its public spokesman.[http://www.livemusicnow.org.uk/lmn_news/item/68757/date/2014-09-22/title/julian_lloyd_webber_joins_live_music_now "Julian Lloyd Webber joins Live Music Now"], 22 September 2014, Live Music Now

In July 2015 Lloyd Webber was appointed Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

In 2016 Lloyd Webber scripted and presented 'Classic Cellists at the BBC' for BBC TV[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084nscd/ "Classic Cellists at the BBC"], 8 May 2020 BBC Programmes and in 2019, to commemorate the centenary of the first performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto in October 1919, Lloyd Webber scripted and presented 'Music in the Air: 100 years of Elgar's Cello Concerto' for Classic FM.[https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/julian-lloyd-webber-elgar-cello-concerto-centenary/ "Julian Lloyd Webber to present ‘100 years of Elgar's Cello Concerto' on Classic FM"], 19 October 2019

In 2021 Lloyd Webber presented and scripted a five-part series for Classic FM in which he chose "30 under 30 of today's finest young musicians at a time when it has never been more difficult for them to show their talents on stage".[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/britains-young-classical-musicians-need-help-like-never/ "Britain's Young Classical Musicians Need Our Help Like Never Before"], 28 February 2021, The Daily Telegraph[https://www.thetimes.com/article/radio-reviews-julian-lloyd-webbers-rising-stars-the-ballad-of-stooky-bill-the-ventriloquists-dummy-claudia-winkleman-2rqnnqfbb/ "Julian Lloyd Webber's Rising Stars"], February 2021, The Times In November 2021 Sky Arts screened the TV special "Classic FM's Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber".[https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/rising-stars-julian-lloyd-webber-sky-arts/ "Classic FM’s Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber – a TV special on Sky Arts"], 20 October 2021, Classic FM (UK) In July 2022 Lloyd Webber made a further selection of 30 Rising Stars together with Classic FM[https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/rising-stars-30-young-musicians-2022/ "Classic FM’s Rising Stars: 30 brilliant musicians we’re celebrating in 2022"], 18 July 2022, Classic FM (UK) and another Sky Arts special was shown in November 2022.{{cite web | url=https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/rising-stars-julian-lloyd-webber-sky-arts/ | title=Watch Classic FM's Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber – a TV special on Sky Arts }} A third series of Rising Stars was announced by Classic FM in March 2023{{cite web | url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/rising-stars-30-young-musicians-2023/ | title=Classic FM's Rising Stars: 30 sensational musicians performing in 2023 }} and broadcast on 13 November 2023 {{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/tv-guide-tv-television-tonight/|title=What's on TV tonight: Midsomer Murders returns, the Olivier Awards, and more|date=7 February 2020|website=Telegraph.co.uk}} In November 2023 Lloyd Webber was presented with the London Cello Society's Lifetime Achievement Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestrad.com/news/julian-lloyd-webber-receives-london-cello-societys-lifetime-achievement-award/17301.article|title=Julian Lloyd Webber receives London Cello Society's Lifetime Achievement Award|website=Thestrad.com}}

Involvement with music education

Demonstrating his long involvement with music education,{{cite web | author=Laura Barnett | url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jan/08/julian-lloyd-webber-cellist-portrait-artist | title=Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist – portrait of the artist |work=The Guardian| date=2014-01-08 | access-date=2014-12-25}} he formed the Music Education Consortium with James Galway and Evelyn Glennie in 2003. As a result of successful and continued lobbying by the Consortium, on 21 November 2007, the UK government announced an infusion of £332 million for music education.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3669424/Julian-Lloyd-Webber-Were-heading-down-Venezuela-way-at-last.html |title=Julian Lloyd Webber: We're heading down Venezuela way, at last|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2012-12-15}} In 2008, the British government invited Lloyd Webber to be chairman of its In Harmony programme which is based on the Venezuelan social programme El Sistema. The government-commissioned Henley Review of Music Education (2011) reported, "There is no doubt that they [the In Harmony projects] have delivered life-changing experiences." In July 2011 the founder of El Sistema in Venezuela, José Antonio Abreu, recognised In Harmony as part of the El Sistema worldwide network. Further, in November 2011 the British government announced additional support for In Harmony across England by extending funding from the Department for Education and adding funding from Arts Council England from 2012 to 2015. Lloyd Webber now chairs the charity Sistema England. In October 2012 he led the Incorporated Society of Musicians{{cite web|url=http://www.ism.org/news/article/bacc_for_the_future_launched|title=Bacc for the Future campaign launched|access-date=2015-01-03|url-status=dead|publisher=Incorporated Society of Musicians|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103152557/http://www.ism.org/news/article/bacc_for_the_future_launched |archive-date= 3 January 2015 }} campaign against the implementation of the English Baccalaureate which proposed to remove arts subjects from the core curriculum. In February 2013 the government withdrew its plans. Lloyd Webber has represented the arts sector on programmes such as BBC1's Question Time, The Andrew Marr Show, BBC2's Newsnight and BBC Radio 4's Today, The World at One, PM, Front Row and The World Tonight.

Lloyd Webber was part of the expert panel which produced the UK government's Model Music Curriculum in March 2021.[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-music-curriculum-to-help-schools-deliver-world-class-teaching "New Music Curriculum to Help Schools Deliver World-Class Teaching"], 26 March 2021

He is a patron of the charity Quartet of Peace, which supports the further education of talented young South African musicians {{citation needed|date=January 2022}}, honorary patron of the Nucleo Project and an inaugural ambassador of the London Music Fund. He is also the patron of Guildford County School and a patron of the Purcell School{{cite magazine| url=https://www.thestrad.com/news/julian-lloyd-webber-joins-purcell-school-as-patron/15808.article |magazine=The Strad|title=News – Julian Lloyd Webber joins Purcell School as patron }}

Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

File:Royal Birmingham Conservatoire 2017.jpg

Lloyd Webber was appointed principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in July 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/artists/julian-lloyd-webber/news/principal-birmingham-conservatoire/ |title=Julian Lloyd Webber Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire|publisher=Classic FM|date=18 March 2015 |access-date=2015-03-18}} During his five-year tenure he oversaw the move to a new £57 million building on the Birmingham City University City Centre Campus and the merger of the Conservatoire with the Birmingham School of Acting. In September 2017 the Conservatoire received the Royal status by Queen Elizabeth II. In September 2020, in recognition of his tenure, Lloyd Webber was appointed Emeritus Professor of Performing Arts by Birmingham City University.[https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/about-us/news/prestigious-university-status-awarded-to-professor-julian-lloyd-webber-in-recognition-of-his-successful-tenure-at-royal-birmingham-conservatoire "Prestigious university status awarded to Professor Julian Lloyd Webber in recognition of his successful tenure at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire"], University News, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 20 August 2020[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/julian-lloyd-webber-to-leave-the-royal-birmingham-conservatoire "Julian Lloyd Webber to leave the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire"], Gramophone, 20 August 2020[https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/about-us/news/first-album-released-between-rbc-and-naxos "First album released in unique partnership between Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Naxos Records"], Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 20 July 2020

[https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/about-us/news/conservatoire-achieves-top-nss-score-for-music-again "Conservatoire achieves the highest NSS result of all UK conservatoires for the second year running"], 11 December 2019

Honours and awards

Lloyd Webber received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in 1998{{cite web|url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Previous_Recipients_Crystal_Award.pdf|title=Previous Recipients of the Crystal Award|website=weforum.org|access-date=17 December 2019}} and a Classic FM Red Award for outstanding services to music in 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.bruceduffie.com/jlloydwebber.html|title=Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber – A Conversation with Bruce Duffie|date=6 November 1995|access-date=17 December 2019}} He won the Best British Classical Recording at the 1986 Brit Awards for his recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with Sir Yehudi Menuhin and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1994 and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Hull, Plymouth University and Thames Valley University.

He is vice president of the Delius Society and a patron of Music in Hospitals and the patron of the Elgar Festival{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/17/elgar-festival-england-arts-council-cut-funding-worcester/|access-date=17 June 2024|title=Elgar Festival claims Arts Council has cut funding because English composer is not 'trendy enough'|author=Craig Simpson|date=17 April 2024|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=London}} He has been an ambassador for the Prince's Trust for more than thirty years and a patron of CLIC Sargent for more than thirty years.

In May 2001, he was granted the first busker's licence on the London Underground.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1329772.stm|title=Lloyd Webber gets underground vibe|work=BBC News|date=14 May 2001|access-date=2012-12-15}}

In September 2009 he joined the board of governors of the Southbank Centre.{{cite web |url=http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/about-us/board-of-governors |title=Board of Governors |publisher=Southbank Centre |date=1 July 2010 |access-date=2012-04-14 |archive-date=17 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121217225508/http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/about-us/board-of-governors |url-status=dead }} He was the Foundling Museum's Handel Fellow for 2010. He was the only classical musician chosen to play at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

On 16 April 2014 Lloyd Webber received the Incorporated Society of Musicians Distinguished Musician Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.ism.org/news/article/julian-lloyd-webber-receives-ism-dma|publisher=Incorporated Society of Musicians|title=Julian Lloyd Webber receives the ISM's Distinguished Musician Award for services to music education|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010148/http://www.ism.org/news/article/julian-lloyd-webber-receives-ism-dma|archive-date=27 April 2014}}

Lloyd Webber was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music.{{London Gazette|issue=63377|supp=y|page=B14|date=12 June 2021}}

Personal life

File:Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber.jpg

In 1974, aged 23, Lloyd Webber married Celia Ballantyne, a marriage that lasted 15 years.{{cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Jasmine |title=Julian Lloyd Webber talks music and marriage |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/julian-lloyd-webber-talks-music-and-marriage-7578985.html |access-date=18 October 2021 |work=Evening Standard|date=20 March 2012}} In 1989 he married Zohra Mahmoud Ghazi, a great niece of Mohammed Zahir Shah, king of Afghanistan, with whom he had a son. His third marriage was to French-Algerian Kheira Bourahla. In 2009 he married fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng.[https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/julian-lloyd-webber-selling-stradivarius-8523885 "Julian Lloyd Webber is selling his Stradivarius after being forced to retire"] by Graham Young, Birmingham Post, 29 January 2015; quote:"After marrying journalist Celia Ballantyne in 1974 ..." The couple have one daughter.[https://www.cotswoldlife.co.uk/out-about/events/julian-lloyd-webber-bowing-out-gracefully-1-4074119 "Bowing Out Gracefully"]. Cotswold Life, 15 May 2015

He is a lifelong supporter of Leyton Orient football club in east London.[https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/property-home/article/julian-lloyd-webber-im-nomadic-and-could-live-almost-anywhere-3rgblj7tf "I am nomadic and could live almost anywhere"], interview by Angela Wintle, The Times, 20 October 2019[https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/my-club-julian-lloyd-webber-on-naming-his-daughter-after-leyton-orient-pm6snwkvj "My club: Julian Lloyd Webber on naming his daughter after Leyton Orient"], The Sunday Times, 15 November 2020[http://www.leytonorientblog.com/2011/09/exclusive-interview-julian-lloyd-webber.html "Exclusive Interview: Julian Lloyd Webber on Orient"], View from the West Stand 5 September 2011

Recordings

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=Cello and piano=

=Solo cello=

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First performances

class="wikitable"
ComposerWorkFirst performance
Malcolm ArnoldFantasy for CelloWigmore Hall, London, December 1987
Malcolm ArnoldCello ConcertoRoyal Festival Hall, London, March 1989
Richard Rodney BennettDream Sequence for Cello and PianoWigmore Hall, London, December 1994
Frank BridgeScherzetto for Cello and PianoSnape Maltings, April 1979
Frank BridgeOration for Cello and Orchestra (1st public performance)Bromsgrove Festival, Worcestershire, April 1979
Gavin BryarsCello Concerto (Farewell to Philosophy)Barbican Centre, London, November 1995
Geoffrey BurgonSix Studies for Solo CelloPortsmouth Cathedral, June 1980
John DankworthFair Oak FusionFair Oak, Sussex, July 1979
Frederick DeliusRomance for Cello and PianoHelsinki Festival, Finland, June 1976
Edward ElgarRomance for Cello and PianoWigmore Hall, London, April 1985
Philip GlassCello ConcertoBeijing Festival, China, September 2001
Vladimír GodárBarcarolle for Cello, Strings, Harp and HarpsichordHellenic Centre, London, April 1994
Howard GoodallAnd the Bridge Is Love for Cello, Strings and HarpChipping Campden Festival, May 2008
Patrick HawesGloriette for Cello and PianoLeeds Castle, Kent, August 2008
Joseph Haydn (attrib.)Concerto in D, Hob. VIIb:4Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, November 1981
Christopher HeadingtonSerenade for Cello and StringsBanqueting House, London, January 1995
Karl JenkinsBenedictus for Cello, Choir and Orchestra from The Armed ManRoyal Albert Hall, London, April 2000
Philip LaneSoliloquy for Solo CelloWangford Festival, Suffolk, July 1972
Andrew Lloyd WebberVariationsSydmonton Festival, Newbury, July 1977
Andrew Lloyd WebberPhantasia (Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra)Izmir Festival, Turkey, July 2008
William Lloyd WebberNocturne for Cello and PianoPurcell Room, London, February 1995
James MacMillanCello Sonata No. 2Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, April 2001
Michael NymanConcerto for Cello and SaxophoneRoyal Festival Hall, London, March 1997
Joaquín RodrigoConcierto como un divertimentoRoyal Festival Hall, London, April 1982
Peter SkellernFive Love Songs for Cello, Piano, Vocals and Brass QuintetSalisbury International Arts Festival, September 1982
Arthur SullivanCello Concerto (orchestrated Mackerras)Barbican Centre, London, April 1986
Ralph Vaughan WilliamsFantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes for Cello and OrchestraThree Choirs Festival, Gloucester, August 1983
William WaltonTheme for a Prince for Solo CelloAdrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, October 1998
Eric WhitacreThe River Cam for cello and stringsRoyal Festival Hall, London, April 2011

Publications

  • Travels with My Cello, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pavilion Books, London (1984). {{ISBN|0-907516-27-0}}
  • Julian Lloyd Webber: Married to Music. The Authorised Biography, Margaret Campbell, Robson Books, London (2001). {{ISBN|1-86105-400-9}}.
  • Short Sharp Shocks – A Masterclass of the Macabre, ed. Julian Lloyd Webber, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-297-81147-3}}.
  • Song of the Birds. Sayings, Stories and Impressions of Pablo Casals, compiled, edited and with a foreword by Lloyd Webber, Robson Books, London (1985 . {{ISBN|0-86051-305-X}}
  • Numerous editions including Arnold's Fantasy for Cello (Faber Music), Rodrigo's Concierto como un divertimento (Schott) and a series of editions for Faber Music's Young Cellists' Repertoire (books 1, 2 and 3), followed by two advanced volumes, Recital Repertoire for Cellists (books 1 and 2.)
  • Editions of the major cello repertoire, The Julian Lloyd Webber Performing Edition, Kevin Mayhew Ltd.

References

{{Reflist}}