An interview with Julian Lloyd-Webber
(adapted from interview for J’Aime magazine)
The internationally-renowned cellist – and Lichfield Festival Patron – Julian Lloyd Webber is known to millions through his concerts, collaborations with musicians from Yehudi Menuhin to Sir Elton John, and multiple award-winning recordings. After injury forced him to retire from playing, he retained links with the Midlands as Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire until 2020.
Julian and his international cellist wife, Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, are closing this year’s Festival with Bach by Candlelight – a wonderfully atmospheric, late evening concert in Lichfield Cathedral.
We asked him how the couple met.
“It was in New Zealand in 2000. I was touring with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Jiaxin was a cello student at Auckland University. She attended my rehearsal and we chatted briefly. But it wasn’t until we met for a third time in New Zealand that something really ‘clicked’. I asked her if she would consider moving to London and she gave up a lot in New Zealand to do that. “
Alongside Julian’s solo career, the pair collaborated as a duo, performing sell-out tours and recording two highly-successful albums.
Their Bach concert stems from Jiaxin’s love of the wonderful Bach Cello Suites. “It is wonderful music on so many levels and the Suites will sound marvellous in the Cathedral. Both of us love performing in such beautiful and historic places – it brings an extra magic to the occasion.”
“In the concert, I narrate the fascinating story behind the composition of the Suites while introducing performances of them by Jiaxin. It’s an extraordinary story: neglected for almost two hundred years, they finally emerged from obscurity to become some of the most treasured pieces in the classical repertoire. They’ve been arranged for at least twenty different instruments – from the ukulele to the tuba and are even used as ring tones on mobile phones! Jiaxin will also play Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy for Cello which Arnold composed for me in 1986. I may tell some stories about working with Arnold but they are mostly unrepeatable – especially in such hallowed surroundings!”