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.[8] 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.[9]
In 2016 Lloyd Webber scripted and presented 'Classic Cellists at the BBC' for BBC TV[10] 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.[11]
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".[12][13] In November 2021 Sky Arts screened the TV special "Classic FM's Rising Stars with Julian Lloyd Webber".[14] In July 2022 Lloyd Webber made a further selection of 30 Rising Stars together with Classic FM[15] and another Sky Arts special was shown in November 2022.[16] A third series of Rising Stars was announced by Classic FM in March 2023[17] and broadcast on 13 November 2023 [18] In November 2023 Lloyd Webber was presented with the London Cello Society's Lifetime Achievement Award[19]
Involvement with music education
Demonstrating his long involvement with music education,[20] 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.[21] 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[22] 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.[23]
He is a patron of the charity Quartet of Peace, which supports the further education of talented young South African musicians [citation needed], 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[24]
He is vice president of the Delius Society and a patron of Music in Hospitals[31] and the patron of the Elgar Festival[32] 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.[31]
Julian Lloyd Webber and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire 2018
In 1974, aged 23, Lloyd Webber married Celia Ballantyne, a marriage that lasted 15 years.[37] In 1989 he married Zohra Mahmoud Ghazi, a great niece of Mohammed Zahir Shah, king of Afghanistan, with whom he had a son, David. His third marriage was to French-Algerian Kheira Bourahla. In 2009 he married fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng.[38] The couple have one daughter, Jasmine Orienta.[39]
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.
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