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# Review: Julian Lloyd Webber @ Lichfield Garrick
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/review-julian-lloyd-webber-lichfield-garrick/
- Published: 2015-07-05T16:12:56.000Z
- Updated: 2015-07-06T12:52:15.000Z
- Description: Anyone who hadn’t taken the precaution of reading the Lichfield Festival programme carefully might well have been disappointed to discover that in fact the famous cellist has, because of a degenerative shoulder condition, been forced to give up playing the instrument permanently.
- Author: Phil Preece
- Tags: Reviews, What's On, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:42

Anyone who hadn’t taken the precaution of reading the Lichfield Festival programme carefully might well have been disappointed to discover that in fact the famous cellist has, because of a degenerative shoulder condition, been forced to give up playing the instrument permanently.

But this hasn’t ended his musical career, in fact far from it since he’s recently been appointed Director of the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music, so he won’t be far away.

[![Julian Lloyd Webber and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e3/90/e390c3da-0866-4d2a-8ffe-ca4999d7ce1c/content/images/lichfieldlive-co-uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/julianandjiaxinlloydwebber2.jpg)](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2015/07/04/whats-on-at-the-lichfield-festival-july-4/julianandjiaxinlloydwebber2/)

Julian Lloyd Webber and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber

Instead the first half of the evening was devoted to anecdotes with snaps and film clips about his growing up in a musical household (which of course included the legendary Andrew) and his subsequent career as a touring musician (I must admit I’d never really appreciated how difficult it is to travel by plane with a cello until I heard him tell it), with plenty of excerpts from solo performances and duets including partnerships with Yehudi Menuhin, Stefan Grapelli and er, Kenny Everett.

If there was any disappointment it was more than offset by the brilliance of the musical interludes played not by Julian himself but by his wife Jiaxin, a superb fellow cello player and witty pianist Pam Chowhan, who also manages to hold down a full-time job at the South Bank Centre. These included a piece composed by his father, In The Half Light and The Music of the Night from brother Andrew’s Phantom of the Opera, as well as works by Bridge, Faure, Shostakovich and my favourite piece, a fiendishly difficult score by Philip Glass.

A question and answer session in the second half of the programme produced some relaxed answers to audience questions about his career and influences before a final duet from his two charming musicians sent us out into the night impressed, amused, and charmingly entertained.