A very Special Recognition Award for Musical Theatre & Education, was presented to Andrew Lloyd Webber in a landmark year for the great musical theatre composer.
The Classic BRIT Awards is proud to both celebrate one of Britain’s finest modern talents and support his incredible work to keep music at the heart of British education.
Lloyd Webber this year celebrated his 70th birthday and the Classic BRIT Awards celebrated the event with a very special performance by Meghan Picerno, currently starring as Christine in the smash-hit tour of “Love Never Dies”.
It is also his tireless work both in supporting music education and speaking out against the funding cuts to music education that the Classic BRIT Awards wishes to acknowledge.
Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “Now that I am 70 I look back and think how lucky I have been. You are very lucky if you know what you want to do in life. I am doubly lucky that I not only have made a living out of my passion but a hugely rewarding one. I hope through my Foundation that I am able to give something back to the profession that has been so good to me. I am a passionate believer in the importance of the arts in schools, particularly music, which transcends all languages, shades of politics, race and creeds. In our increasingly dangerous and fractured world, the arts have never been as vital as they are today and they should be free."
Classic BRIT Awards co-chair Rebecca Allen, “Our business is built on exceptional artists, without exceptional artists we are nothing. It is our responsibility, our duty to seek out and support these artists, and without music being supported in schools, our bloodline stops. The work Andrew Lloyd Webber and his team do to support music in schools is significant and we as an industry must acknowledge and applaud this, for without support like this in schools, our industry will falter.”
Since 2010, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has awarded over £19m to support emerging artists and the provision of music education, performing arts training, and heritage skills across the UK. The Foundation has awarded £2.4m to the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, enabling more than 6500 children across London to receive free classical music instruments and lessons as well as access to high profile performance opportunities.
He has been vocal about cuts to music education in schools that are leaving many children without access to music lessons in the UK.
By calling the cuts a “national scandal” Lloyd Webber has often raised the subject via media interviews to highlight the value that music education brings to the nation.
A recent study by the University Of Sussex found that music is losing out to English and Maths due to the government introducing the English Baccalaureate in 2010. The number of schools offering GCSE Music are falling, compulsory music lessons were in 84% of schools in 2012-13, falling to 62% in 2016-17. In 30% of secondary schools, the music department consisted of just one teacher.
When Sunset Boulevard joined School of Rock,Cats and The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in 2017, Andrew Lloyd Webber became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by Rodgers and Hammerstein with four Broadway shows running concurrently. Other musicals he has composed include Aspects of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Starlight Express and Love Never Dies.
In addition to recognizing Lloyd Webber’s inspirational work, the Classic BRIT Awards are support the London Music Fund through their Scholarship programme, over 9,000 young musicians have been given the opportunity to develop their potential, through 4-year Scholarships and with project opportunities to learn from and perform alongside professionals.
Showcasing the best and brightest of incredible new British talent, the Classic BRIT Awards’ Sound Of Classical Poll is always looking for classical artists aged 13-30 tipped for a great future.
