Son of composer William and younger brother of songwriter Andrew, Julian Lloyd Webber is a widely acclaimed English cellist who has premiered the works of many major contemporary composers, made scores of popular recordings and worked with artists from Yehudi Menuhin to Elton John.
Lloyd Webber played the cello from the age of four and following study at London's Royal Conservatory of Music, he made his professional debut in a 1971 recital at Wigmore Hall and his concert bow the following year performing Arthur Bliss's 'Cello Concerto'. His recording career began in 1976 with works by Frank Bridge, Peter Racine Fricker and John Ireland and he went on to record the works of a wide variety of classical composers including Debussy, Dvorák, Fauré, Grieg, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, with several contemporary composers such as Joaquín Rodrigo, Malcolm Arnold, Michael Nyman and Philip Glass writing works especially for him.
His 1986 recording 'Elgar: Cello Concerto, Enigma Variations' with Yehudi Menuhin and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra won the BRIT Award for best classical recording and other well-received albums include 'Variations' (1978), 'Cello Moods' (1999), 'Julian Lloyd Webber Plays Andrew Lloyd Webber' (2001) and 'Unexpected Songs' (2008). He recorded an instrumental version of Elton John's ballad 'Your Song' with the singer on piano and accompanied singer Cleo Laine on 'He Was Beautiful' at his 60th birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 2011. His most recent release was 'And the Bridge Is Love', featuring works by Elgar, Delius, Vaughan Williams and his father William Lloyd Webber, came out in 2015.
An energetic spokesman on behalf of classical music, in 2003 with flautist James Galway and percussionist Evelyn Glennie, he founded the Music Education Consortium to lobby for funds for music education and he has worked on behalf of In Harmony, a charity that supports arts projects in the UK. He announced his retirement in April 2014 after a herniated disc in his neck began affecting the strength of his right arm, and made his final appearance as a cellist at the Forum Theatre in Malvern with the English Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 he was named Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University.
