Andrew Lawrence-King

Andrew Lawrence-King (born 3 September 1959) is a harpist and conductor from Guernsey known for his work in early music.

Lawrence-King received an organ scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge following on his work as Head Chorister at the Cathedral and Parish Church of St Peter Port Guernsey. Lawrence-King taught himself the techniques of early harp performance after acquiring an early harp, emphasizing a heavily improvisational style. After Selwyn, he attended the London Early Music Centre, subsequently becoming an ensemble continuo player with various groups in Europe and a harp soloist with Hespèrion XX. In addition to his work with other ensembles, Lawrence-King founded continuo group Tragicomedia which he co-directed from 1988-1994, the year he founded The Harp Consort, which performs internationally and releases recordings on Harmonia Mundi.

Lawrence-King has worked as a conductor with a number of ensembles, including conducting at the 400th anniversary of the earliest opera at the Getty Center in Los Angeles (2001). He has served as Senior Visiting Research Fellow for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, studying baroque opera performance customs of the 17th century alongside professor Jane Davidson of the University of Western Australia and as professor of harp and continuo at the Akademie für Alte Musik in Bremen.

In 1992, he received the Erwin Bodky Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music in Massachusetts. In 1996, his recording of Alcina brought him the American Handel Society Prize. In 1997, the American Musicological Society bestowed on him its Noah Greenberg Award. In 1998, he won the Echo Klassik award for Best Early Music Recording.

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