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Described by Strad magazine as ‘the doyen of British cellists’ and widely regarded as one the finest musicians of his generation, Julian Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative and successful careers in classical music today. He has premiered more than fifty works for cello and he has inspired new compositions from composers as diverse as Joaquin Rodrigo and Malcolm Arnold to Philip Glass, James MacMillan and – most recently - Eric Whitacre. Julian Lloyd Webber’s many recordings have received worldwide acclaim. His Brit-award winning Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin was chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine and his coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Concerto was described by Gramophone magazine as being “beyond any rival”. Lloyd Webber has also recorded several highly successful CD’s of shorter pieces including Cello Moods, Cradle Song and Evening Songs: “It would be difficult to find better performances of this kind of repertoire anywhere on records of today or yesterday” - Gramophone.

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Described by Strad magazine as ‘the doyen of British cellists’ and widely regarded as one the finest musicians of his generation, Julian Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative and successful careers in classical music today. He has premiered more than fifty works for cello and he has inspired new compositions from composers as diverse as Joaquin Rodrigo and Malcolm Arnold to Philip Glass, James MacMillan and – most recently - Eric Whitacre.


Julian Lloyd Webber’s many recordings have received worldwide acclaim. His Brit-award winning Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin was chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine and his coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Concerto was described by Gramophone magazine as being “beyond any rival”. Lloyd Webber has also recorded several highly successful CDs of shorter pieces including Cello Moods, Cradle Song and Evening Songs: “It would be difficult to find better performances of this kind of repertoire anywhere on records of today or yesterday” - Gramophone.


At the age of sixteen Julian Lloyd Webber won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and he completed his studies in Geneva with the renowned cellist, Pierre Fournier. Since then he has collaborated with an extraordinary array of musicians from Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Georg Solti to Elton John and Stephane Grappelli.


On 29th January 2012 Lloyd Webber performed the Delius Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at the Royal Festival Hall in a concert which marked, to the day, the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Lloyd Webber has been a Vice-President of the Delius Society for many years and - in recognition of his lifelong devotion to the music of Elgar - he was elected President of the Elgar Society in 2009.
Julian Lloyd Webber has won numerous awards for his services to music, including the Crystal Award (presented at the World Economic Forum in 1998) and the Classic FM Red Award in 2005. In 1994 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. As founder of the In Harmony Sistema England programme, Julian is working to promote personal and community development in some of England’s most deprived areas, through orchestral-based learning and musical experiences.


Julian is married to fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng and is a passionate supporter of Leyton Orient football club. He was the London Underground's first official busker and was the only classical musician to perform at the Closing Ceremony of Olympics 2012.
Julian Lloyd Webber plays the ‘Barjansky’ Stradivarius cello (c.1690).

www.julianlloydwebber.com

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Reviews

"...the doyen of British cellists"

The Strad

"Seamless bowing and technical prowess produced droplets of liquid notes with a honeyed tone, seducing an already-entranced audience. At the finish, silent astonishment and awe was shattered by insuperable, foot-stomping acclaim."

The Siren

"Lloyd Webber’s cantabile line gave the melody a light touch, and the chromatic Elegy was soft-hearted but profound."

Classical Source

"Cello maestro and Delius expert Julian Lloyd Webber conjured up sounds of exquisite sweetness in a performance imbued with tenderness and eloquence"

Oxford Times

"The star of the night, Julian Lloyd Webber... was so completely involved in the music it was almost as though you could see him humming the Haydn Concerto in C major in his head. Lloyd Weber’s interpretation of the concerto was understated and elegant and met with a great response from the audience. He played as though he was relating to a personal memory in both pieces and his performance could be described as cerebral and intellectual. Many soloists will move around wildly with the music whereas Lloyd Webber gave a tight performance straight from his heart and imagination. On stage, he demonstrated the true power of his knowledge of the music."

www.bachtrack.com

"Lloyd Webber's collection does ample justice to his two featured composers, taking us somewhere beyond the beaten track... The CD's title is inspired by a John Ireland miniature called 'Evening Song' which could easily have been the inspiration for the term "delightful". Lloyd Webber has turned this into a beautifully lilting cello duet, which he plays along with his wife, Jiaxin Cheng, and which melds, together with the caresses of Lenehan's piano, into the perfect lullaby."

Independent.ie

"Julian Lloyd Webber joined the NCO for two short pieces: in Fauré’s haunting Élégie his rich tone told well against the very fine orchestral balance... and the rare Frank Bridge Scherzetto proved a delightful foil. These two works were quite beautifully played and projected with genuine character."

www.classicalsource.com

"If Lloyd Webber strove to achieve in his audience a greater reverence for the legacy of music, then his standing ovation proved such an aspiration successful. "

Bachtrack

"They perform Shostakovich with relish, and with such a musicianly soloist [Julian Lloyd-Webber] the result was stunning."

Birmingham Post

"Julian Lloyd-Webber brings an especially sensitive 'voice' to the Barjansky-Stradivarius cello . . . not simply by creating that traditional 'singing' tone we expect from the instrument but also in the subtle changes of register and tone he lends to his own arrangements."

Gramophone

"Julian Lloyd Webber has championed Delius's Cello Concerto . . . Using a portamento like a singing voice, Lloyd Webber's cello playing is silky smooth and the intonation immaculate"

The Strad

"Add to that the intensely committed and occasionally rather freewheeling playing of Julian Lloyd Webber, a lifelong Delius advocate, and the result was a truly persuasive case for the composer's Cello Concerto"

The Guardian

"The continuous stream of consciousness reveals itself subtly and without fanfare – exactly what Julian Lloyd Webber conveyed and with no lack of feeling . . . cushioning the long, flowing cello line on a soft bed of supple strings and delicate woodwinds"

Classical Source

"Put simply, this is just marvellous cello playing"

BBC Music Magazine

"This was the most purely pleasurable cello playing I've heard in ages"

The Independent

"Lloyd Webber and Menuhin get the Elgar just right. This is my performance to live with"

BBC Music Magazine

"While concert artists rarely win mass acclaim, Julian Lloyd Webber's star shines brightly among the deserving few. Last night's performance showed why"

The Washington Post

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Discography