Andrew Lloyd Weber Wins Award
British Composer Given "Outstanding" Classical BRIT Award
Known for Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita and other musicals, Andrew Lloyd Weber received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the 2008 Classical BRIT Awards.
Andrew Lloyd Weber may spark debate among the purist classical music lovers, but the judges for the Classical BRIT Awards decided the composer of music theatre was simply outstanding.
A Celebration of Classical Music in the UK
Determined partly by audience selection (listeners of Classic FM and readers of the Classic FM magazine), the BRIT Awards have been honoring classical musicians and the UK's increased classical music sales since 2000. The award ceremony will honor 2008’s winners on May 8th at Royal Albert Hall (home of the BBC Proms).
Other Nominations
Yet while Weber may have his award—Outstanding Achievement--in the bag, other nominees must still hold their breath for the award ceremony in order to find out the winners of the other categories. Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, and British cellist Natalie Clein are up for Female Artist of the Year. Tenors Alfie Boe and Rolando Villazon compete with conductor Sir Colin Davis for Male Artist of the Year.
The competition becomes even stiffer when it comes to categories such as Album of the Year. Ten nominations all vied for audience votes, from Blake, the title album of a group that formed on Facebook, to Hayley Westenra’s Treasure, to an album by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guard. Atonement’s soundtrack (characterized by incessant tapping of the typewriter keys) competes with the music of Blood Diamond and Elizabeth: The Golden Age for best soundtrack.
The Composer of Cats, Evita and Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Weber has made his name in music theatre. But he has also composed other works, such as a setting of the Requiem (a Latin mass for the dead). Lloyd Weber composed the mass in memory of his father, also a musician. Indeed, Lloyd Weber comes from a highly musical family: his father William Southcombe Lloyd Weber (1914–1982) was an organist and composer and spent nearly 20 years as the Director of the London College of Music. Andrew’s brother Julian Lloyd Weber is an accomplished cellist.
Born in 1948, Andrew Lloyd Weber has racked up the music and film awards in his 60 years: he has won seven Tonys, three Grammys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, two International Emmys, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers award for Excellence in Musical Theatre and the Kennedy Center Honor. Yet despite all these awards, he was still “absolutely thrilled” to win a prize at the Classical BRITs.
Sources
“Classical Brits to Honour Webber.” April 8, 2008. BBC Music.
Lloyd Weber, Andrew. Quoted in “Classical Brits to Honour Webber.” April 8, 2008. BBC Music.
“The Lloyd Webers.” Andrew Lloyd Weber website.
“Nominations.” Classical BRIT Awards 2008 website.
