Anna Lapwood
Anna Lapwood is one of the UK’s most dynamic ambassadors for classical music. As the official organist of the Royal Albert Hall, she has broken down genre boundaries and introduced a huge new audience to the organ. She has reached millions via her devoted social media following and helped revitalise repertoire for the instrument through the dedicated commissioning and performing of new works. She is also an established conductor and broadcaster, and a fierce advocate for the advancement of female voices within her industry. The scope of her influence is demonstrated by her appointment as MBE in 2024’s New Year’s Honours list and her inclusion in the 2025 Sunday Times Young Power List.
Anna is a graduate of Oxford University, where she was the first female Organ Scholar in Magdalen College’s 560-year history. In 2016 she also became the Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge – the youngest ever person to be appointed in that role at an Oxbridge college. Her time at Pembroke saw her found a much-lauded girls’ choir, commission works from leading choral composers, and spearhead the release of five records.
As a recitalist, Anna has carved out a niche combining performances of more traditional organ repertoire with film and orchestral music, often in her own arrangements. Her recent touring programmes have placed the music of Duruflé, Gigout and Britten alongside large-scale transcriptions of music from Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings. Recent recital venues include Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Sydney Opera House, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall and Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. In 2025 she takes her new bespoke touring organ across the UK and opens for Ludovico Einaudi at London’s O2 Arena. Aside from recitals, her recent concert highlights include performances of Jongen’s Symphonie concertante with the Hallé, Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Saint-Saëns’ ‘Organ’ Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Antonio Pappano.
Among the works written for Anna are Max Richter’s Cosmology, Kristina Arakelyan’s Toccata and Olivia Belli’s Limina Luminis. The last of these was featured on Firedove, her latest solo record, which was released in 2025 on Sony Classical and reached No. 1 on the Official Classical Artist Albums Chart. A composer and arranger in her own right, Anna is signed to Boosey & Hawkes and has published several choral compositions as well as numerous transcriptions of orchestral music for organ.
A keen collaborator, Anna is an Artist in Association with the BBC Singers and Featured Artist with the Hallé. Her relationship Royal Albert Hall has resulted in some of her most memorable pop collaborations including AURORA, Bonobo, Florence + the Machine, and Raye, as well as actor Benedict Cumberbatch for Letters Live. Her close relationship with the Hall has also led to the launch of a new annual Organ Scholar Programme, just one of several initiatives demonstrating Anna’s commitment to musical outreach and the fostering of young talent. Her relentless encouragement of and support for female organists in particular has made her a role model within that community, neatly captured in the hashtag #playlikeagirl. Now with a three-million-strong social media following, she has helped bring the organ, and contemporary ideas of a what an organist can be, to a whole new audience.