Internationally-acclaimed viola player Lawrence Power is widely praised for his richness of sound, technical mastery and his passionate advocacy for new music. Heralded by the New York Times as ‘a musician on a mission to make us pay attention to the viola’, Lawrence has advanced the cause of the viola both through the excellence of his performances, whether in recitals, chamber music or concertos and the creation of the Viola Commissioning Circle (VCC), which has led to a substantial body of fresh repertoire for the instrument by today’s finest composers. Lawrence has premiered concertos by leading composers such as James MacMillan, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Julian Anderson, Alexander Goer, and through the VCC has commissioned works by Anders Hillborg, Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Cassandra Miller and Magnus Lindberg.
Lawrence opens the season with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Nicholas Collon) performing Berlioz Harold in Italy and appears again under the baton of Collon alongside violinist Vilde Frang for the Britten Double Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Concerto highlights include performances of the critically acclaimed Magnus Lindberg Viola Concerto with Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona (Matthias Pintscher), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (Ryan Bancroft), Trondheim Symphony (Adam Hickox), and play directing the concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Further engagements include performances of Cassandra Miller I cannot love without trembling with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester (James Gaffigan), the BBC Philharmonic (Ludovic Morlot) and the Montréal Symphony Orchestra (Elim Chan) and a three-week play direct tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra to include the world premiere of Garth Knox’s Viola Concerto.
Lawrence is a strong collaborator, and this season will perform alongside Ryan Wigglesworth, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Nicholas Alstaedt and Ilya Gringolts, at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana and LSO St Luke’s.
Lawrence and videographer Jessie Roger will join forces again for a newly commissioned project from creative studio Âme at the Barbican Centre, and make their debut in Paris with a performance of ‘Reflections’ at Théâtre de l’Athénée, Paris.
Over the past decade, Lawrence has become a regular guest performer with orchestras of the highest calibre, from Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Stockholm, Bergen and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, with conductors such as such as Osmo Vänska, Lahav Shani, Parvo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Andrew Manze, Edward Gardner, Nicholas Collon, Ilan Volkov and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Lawrence enjoys play-directing orchestras from both violin and viola, including at the Edinburgh International Festival with Scottish Ensemble, Australian National Academy of Music and with Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and leads his own orchestra, Collegium, made up of fine young musicians from across Europe. He is on the faculty at Zurich’s Hochschule der Kunst and gives masterclasses around the world, including at the Verbier Festival. He has enjoyed residencies at Turner Sims Southampton and with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, served as Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre and with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He is founder and Artistic Director of West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2021.
As a chamber musician he is in much demand and regularly performs at Verbier, Salzburg, Aspen, Oslo and other festivals with artists such as Steven Isserlis, Nicholas Alstaedt, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Vilde Frang, Maxim Vengerov and Joshua Bell. Lawrence was announced in 2021 as an Associate Artist at the Wigmore Hall, a position lasting for five years, with artists performing at least once each season.
Lawrence plays a viola made in Bologna in 1590 by Antonio Brenzi and also a Brothers Amati viola from 1580 on loan from the Karolina Blaberg Stifftung.
See Lawrence Power perform Schnittke’s Viola Concerto with the RSNO on 2 and 3 October 2026. On 4 October 2026 he will perform Brahms’ String Sextet No1 Op18 and Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht Op4.
