The W T Bryant Concert

Lawrence Power is one of today’s foremost violists, in demand worldwide as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber music partner. His eloquent artistry and penetrating musicianship were acknowledged in 2015 when he was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award.

Over the past decade, he has become a regular guest performer with orchestras of the highest international calibre, from the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Stockholm Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras to the Philharmonia, the BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras. In addition he has established a strong presence in Australia as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony and Adelaide Symphony orchestras.

Lawrence Power was Artist in Residence with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2012-13 season and has forged a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His recital credits include performances at Wigmore Hall and other prestigious UK and European venues and festivals. He regularly collaborates with the violinist Maxim Vengerov and has developed an acclaimed duo partnership with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips.

Power’s Gramophone Award-nominated recordings for Hyperion include the viola concertos of Bartók, Rósza, Walton and Rubbra, the Shostakovich and Brahms viola sonatas, and York Bowen’s complete works for viola and piano with Simon Crawford-Phillips. His three-disc Hindemith survey stands as a benchmark recording of the composer’s complete works for solo viola, while his most recent Hyperion release, Fin de Siècle, made with Simon Crawford-Phillips, includes world premiere recordings of works by Büsser, Hüe and Honnoré, together with compositions by Chausson, Debussy, Enescu and Ravel. Power also features on Ian Bostridge and Sir Antonio Pappano’s Shakespeare Songs, joint winner of the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He is set to record Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Bergen Philharmonic for Hyperion and Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Illumination with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in May 2017.

As a fervent champion of contemporary music, Lawrence Power has developed a large repertoire of new works. He gave the UK premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s concerto Remnants of Song at the 2012 BBC Proms, and the world premieres of a succession of scores written for him, including Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Pentatonic Étude, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Power Play, Julian Anderson’s Prayer, Alexander Goehr’s Hymn to Night and Huw Watkins’s Fantasy.

Power opened the 2014-15 season with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at Lincoln Center in New York with Joshua Bell and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. His 2016-17 schedule includes recitals at LSO St Luke’s, Wigmore Hall and on tour to the United States, Julian Anderson’s Prayer and Walton’s Viola Concerto with the Philharmonia, MacMillan’s Viola Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras.

Lawrence Power became Artistic Director of the English Chamber Orchestra Charitable Trust in May 2016 and launched his first London series with the English Chamber Orchestra at Kings Place in October 2016. He is also founder and Artistic Director of West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival.