Lawrence Power receives Musicians' Company Cobbett Medal

Violist Lawrence Power has been awarded the Musicians’ Company Cobbett Medal in honour of his ‘services to chamber music’. Power received the medal from the Master of the Musicians’ Company, Richard Lyttelton, joining a legacy of previous winners including Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Pablo Casals, Michael Tippett, Yehudi Menuhin, John Gilhooly, Emma Johnson and Nicholas Daniel.

Inaugurated in 1924, the award is given annually to recognise outstanding contributions to chamber music. The award marks the continuation of Power’s relationship with the Musicians’ Company, which dates back to October 1998 when Lawrence, performed at the Wigmore Hall as a winner of one of the Company’s Maisie Lewis Awards.

Power said: ‘Chamber music is the most beautifully distilled and pure form of music making. It’s my oxygen as a musician and I feel blessed to have had it in my life from the very beginning. I’m honoured to receive this award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.’

A dedicated proponent of the viola, Power’s work to promote the instrument has included the founding of the Viola Commissioning Circle (VCC), which has supported the creation of fresh repertoire for the instrument by composers including Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry and Cassandra Miller. Power has also premiered concertos by composers including James MacMillan, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Julian Anderson and Alexander Goer.

This season he is set to collaborate with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra to premiere a new Viola Concerto commissioned from Magnus Lindberg via the VCC. Power is on the faculty at Zurich’s Hochschule der Kunst and has enjoyed residencies at Turner Sims Southampton and Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. He is founder and artistic director of West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival, has served as artist in residence with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and is currently associate artist at the Wigmore Hall.