Adrian Lucas - Conductor

Adrian Lucas

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.