Lawrence Power

Source: Kirchner Musikmanagement

Power [has an] ability to transform the most commonplace phrase into something magically eloquent and memorable. (The Guardian)

Lawrence Power is one of the world’s leading violists, highly esteemed both as a soloist and chamber musician.
In the current season, he returns to the Salzburg Festival – with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, and for a chamber concert with Patricia Kopatchinskaya and Sol Gabetta – as well as to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg. He will make his debut with Camerata Bern in a play & direct programme including the world premiere of Garth Knox’ viola concerto. The Munich Chamber Orchestra has invited Power to perform two concert programmes, and with his duo partner Simon Crawford-Phillips he will be appearing at the Heidelberg Spring Festival.
During the 2024/25 season, Power made his debut with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Iván Fischer, performing Hindemith’s Schwanendreher, and with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Alan Gilbert, giving the German premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s viola concerto. He also performed this concerto, which was dedicated to him, with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. As Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre, Power presented multimedia programs and a recital with Thomas Adès. Together with Renaud Capuçon, Victor Julien-Laferrière, and Alexandre Kantorow he appeared in the closing concert of the Klavier-Festival Ruhr.
Power maintains a regular collaboration with top international orchestras, ranging from the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Osmo Vänskä, Lahav Shani, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Andrew Manze, and Ilan Volkov. In his signature play & lead projects, he directs chamber orchestras not only as a violist but also from the violin. Among his close chamber music partners are Vilde Frang, Ilja Gringolts and Nicolas Altstaedt, and he is also a member of the Nash Ensemble.
Lawrence Power is a passionate advocate of contemporary music. With the help of the Viola Commissioning Circle, founded by him, he is constantly expanding the viola repertoire with works by important contemporary composers. In addition to the viola concertos by Magnus Lindberg, Cassandra Miller, Anders Hillborg, David Philip Hefti, James MacMillan and Ryan Wigglesworth, he also premiered works by Thomas Adès, Garth Knox, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Power has appeared twelve times at the BBC Proms and is frequently invited by concert halls and festivals to serve as curator or Artist in Residence due to his inventive and dramaturgically nuanced programmes. He is the founder and artistic director of the West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival as well as the film production company Âme, which explores the intersections between music and other arts.
In recognition of the outstanding quality and scope of his work as a solo artist, Lawrence Power was honoured with the Instrumentalist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2020. He holds a professorship at the Zurich University of the Arts and teaches masterclasses worldwide, including at the Verbier Festival. In 2021, he has been appointed Associate Artist of the Wigmore Hall in London for a five-year term.

Power plays a 1590 Amati viola (ex Trampler) on loan from the Karolina Blaberg Foundation.