{"id":30650,"date":"2023-07-21T11:12:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T09:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=179529"},"modified":"2023-07-21T13:40:05","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T11:40:05","slug":"who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Anna Lapwood? Meet the organist, choral conductor and social media sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

All you need to know about the organist and conductor, who’s using social media to bring classical music to millions <\/p>

By Hannah Nepilova\n \t\t<\/p>

2023-07-21 09:12:55<\/p>

\n\n

Anna\u00a0Lapwood, 27, has been described by the New York Times as \u2018the world\u2019s most visible organist.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Raised in a small Oxfordshire village, Lapwood studied Music at Magdalen College, Oxford, where she was the first woman in the college\u2019s 560-year history to be awarded an organ scholarship.<\/p>\n\n<p>She now runs choirs and teaches at Cambridge University\u2019s Pembroke College by day, and, by night, her role as Associate Artist of the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/who-designed-and-built-the-royal-albert-hall\/"\"><strong>Royal Albert Hall<\/strong><\/a> sees her granted special access to the grand venue\u2019s historic organ.<\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-facts-about-royal-albert-hall-organ\/"\">Five facts about the Royal Albert Hall organ<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This has led to some entirely spontaneous collaborations, not least with electronic musician Bonobo: one late-night practice session was interrupted by a request shouted up from the stage, which turned out to come from a couple of members of Bonobo\u2019s band. Eighteen hours later, she was helping them close their show to an unsuspecting audience of 5,000.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Bonobo\" anna=\"\" lapwood=\"\" perform=\"\" otomo=\"\" live=\"\" at=\"\" the=\"\" royal=\"\" albert=\"\" hall=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AdyAF9M3XVw?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>On another occasion, a practice session coincided with Benedict Cumberbatch appearing at the Hall. Lapwood approached the actor and asked if he wanted to try out the organ. He and his wife Sophie Hunter, theatre and opera director, accepted.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I played for them for about ten minutes, and then they both had a go,\u2019 says Lapwood. \u2018Benedict played <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/johann-sebastian-bach\/"\"><strong>Bach<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Prelude In C Major (BWV 846). We had a chat and after they left, I started practising \u2018Cornfield Chase\u2019 [from the movie <em>Interstellar, <\/em>scored by Hans Zimmer].<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Anna\" lapwood=\"\" cornfield=\"\" chase=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fyxq39JN_sE?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<ul><li><strong><a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-hans-zimmer-film-scores\/"\">Which are the best Hans Zimmer film scores?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2018Benedict\u2019s bodyguards ran back on stage as they love the piece and Benedict followed and asked if I could do it again so he could film it. When I finished, I realised he was crying, and he said: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to join Letters Live tomorrow\u201d. Then I started crying!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>As Benedict read former US President Richard Nixon\u2019s letter, written to be shared if the moon landings had failed and lives had been lost, Lapwood played \u2018Cornfield Chase\u2019 to close the show.<\/p>\n<p>Only 8% of organists responsible for recitals in the UK in 2022 are women, but Lapwood, who has 450,000+ TikTok followers and whose social media hashtag is <b>#<\/b>playlikeagirl, is keen to reinvent the organ\u2019s image.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s all sorts of old ideas about who goes to an organ concert, and it was seen as having gone out of fashion. That has definitely changed,\u201d\u00a0insists Anna:\u00a0\u201cThis instrument is anything from boring \u2013 just ask Benedict Cumberbatch!\u2019<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo: Charlotte Ellis<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Bonobo\" anna=\"\" lapwood=\"\" perform=\"\" otomo=\"\" live=\"\" at=\"\" the=\"\" royal=\"\" albert=\"\" hall=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AdyAF9M3XVw?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/250-young-singers-to-perform-alongside-world-renowned-musicians-at-ely-cathedral\/"\">250 young singers to perform alongside world-renowned musicians at Ely Cathedral<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/watch-sheffield-concert-interrupted-as-rain-cascades-through-cathedral-roof\/"\">Watch: Sheffield concert interrupted as rain cascades through cathedral roof<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/video-violinist-joshua-bell-performs-the-butterfly-lovers-concerto\/"\">Video: violinist Joshua Bell performs the Butterfly Lovers Concerto<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> All you need to know about the organist and conductor, who’s using social media to bring classical music to millions <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30651,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation.jpg",1594,1262,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation-300x238.jpg",300,238,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation-768x608.jpg",768,608,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation-1024x811.jpg",800,634,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation-1536x1216.jpg",1536,1216,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/who-is-anna-lapwood-meet-the-organist-choral-conductor-and-social-media-sensation.jpg",1594,1262,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"All you need to know about the organist and conductor, who's using social media to bring classical music to millions","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/30650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}