 Adrian Lucas - Conductor
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| Adrian Lucas |
Adrian Lucas
has been conductor of the City of Birmingham Choir since 2002. He
follows in the footsteps of Christopher Robinson and Sir David
Willcocks, who were each at one time Master of the Choristers at
Worcester Cathedral, a post Adrian has held since 1996.
An Organ Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge under Dr George
Guest, Adrian has since pursued a primary career in cathedral music,
holding posts at Salisbury, Norwich, and Portsmouth before moving to
the West Midlands. In this context, his work has been focused
around the daily liturgy of the Cathedral, developing the work of
the Cathedral Choir through a series of successful recordings,
broadcasts and international tours. The Cathedral Choir has also
been involved in some exciting projects around the country,
including a performance of Leonard Bernstein's Mass as part of the
BBC Music Live events for the millennium celebrations in 2000, a
52-minute documentary on the history of the European boys' choir
tradition entitled L'Or des Anges, and they were the first cathedral
to broadcast live both Midnight Mass and the Christmas Morning
Eucharist on BBC1 in 2007.
Other exciting developments at the Cathedral include: two new
organs, the first of which was completed in July 2008; girl
choristers becoming a new part of the choral foundation in 2006 and
choral scholarship opportunities enabling young singers to join the
existing Lay Clerks. The cathedral has also been successful in
securing government funding to start outreach work into local
schools, which will encourage youngsters to have a first taste of
excellent choral music.
Adrian also continues to perform as a solo organist and has many
CDs to his name. Recitals have included a large number of Cathedral
venues around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as King's
College in Cambridge. Recent years have seen recitals in Magdeburg
and Halberstadt in Germany and a five week tour in the USA, taking
in such major venues as Boston, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor and Houston.
Since the completion of the new organ in Worcester he has added a CD
of the Julius Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm and Louis Vierne's
mighty Symphonie I to a growing list of recordings.
Adrian is also the Artistic Director to the Worcester Three
Choirs Festival, reputed to be one of the oldest music festivals in
the world and dating back at least to the early 18th and probably as
far as the middle 17th century. Initially formed around the work of
the three Cathedral Choirs of Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford, it
has expanded into a week-long event, rotating between the three
Cathedral cities each year, with international artists, professional
performers and world-class orchestras. The Worcester programme for
2008 included The Apostles by Edward Elgar, Carmina Burana by Carl
Orff and the world première of Andrew Gant's A British Symphony.
Adrian Lucas is widely respected as a conductor and has worked
with a number of leading orchestras, including the Philharmonia, the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the CBSO and the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra. |
... superb clarity and wonderful dynamics.
