Recognised as “a brilliant, absolutely world-class player” (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) and “the doyen of period clarinetists” (BBC Music Magazine), Professor Colin Lawson has appeared as soloist at international venues including London’s major concert halls as well as New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He has played principal in most of Britain’s leading period orchestras, notably The Hanover Band, The English Concert and the London Classical Players, with whom he has recorded extensively and toured worldwide.
Professor Lawson read music at the University of Oxford and was subsequently awarded a MA at the University of Birmingham for his work on the eighteenth-century clarinet. He has held academic positions at the Universities of Aberdeen; Sheffield; and London. From 2001 to 2005, he was the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the London College of Music at Thames Valley University (now the University of West London).
Professor Lawson has also published widely, especially for Cambridge University Press.