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Keyboard Institute

Associate Professor Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AM, Bachelor of Arts (Music) (ANU); Master of Music (University of Tasmania); Doctor of Philosophy (Sydney University); Postgraduate Fortepiano Specialist Study (Royal Conservatory, The Hague) T: +61 2 6125 9781 E: geoffrey.lancaster@anu.edu.au

For the past 30 years, Geoffrey Lancaster has been at the forefront of the historically-informed performance practice movement.

Geoffrey Lancaster is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of La Cetra Barockorchester Basel. He has appeared as conductor or soloist with all of the Symphony Australia orchestras and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Geoffrey has been frequent guest Director with the Tasmanian Symphony Chamber Players since 1987. He is also Artistic Director and fortepianist with Ensemble of the Classic Era.

The most distinguished Australian pianist of his generation, Lancaster’s recent international engagements include appearances as soloist with the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 415 of Geneva, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra of Toronto, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. This season he has already performed to critical acclaim as soloist at the Alte Oper Frankfurt; the Auditorio y Centro de Congresos Victor Villegas in Murcia, Spain; Hatchlands Park in Surrey; De Doelen in Rotterdam, the Music Centre Vredenberg in Utrecht, and the Kölner Philharmonie.

As a recording artist, Geoffrey’s 30 CDs have won many awards including a Gramophone award for Best Recording, the ARIA Best Classical Recording, and Soundscapes Editor’s Choice. Geoffrey is currently recording the complete keyboard sonatas of Joseph Haydn for the Melba label. He has also recorded for ABC Classics, ABC Classics ‘Antipodes’, Tall Poppies, Sony Classical, and Supraphon.

Geoffrey Lancaster was the first Australian to win a major international keyboard competition, receiving First Prize in the 23rd Festival van Vlaanderen International Mozart Fortepiano Competition, Brugge.

An inspiring teacher and public intellectual, Lancaster undertakes regular residencies at significant European conservatoria including: the Royal Conservatorium, the Hague; the Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam; Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music; the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg; and the Basel Musik Akademie. He also facilitates, conducts and teaches on a regular basis for the Australian National Academy of Music.

In 1996, Geoffrey Lancaster was Associate Professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Since 2002 he has been at the Australian National University where he is Professor, and since 1999 has been visiting Professor of fortepiano at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland.

Lancaster received the Australian Artists Creative Fellowship from the Commonwealth of Australia for his outstanding artistic contribution to the nation. He was subsequently awarded the HC Coombs Creative Fellowship by the Australian National University. In 2006 Geoffrey Lancaster was named Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory, and was awarded the Order of Australia for service to music and music education. In 2007, Geoffrey was appointed Honorary Professor of the University of Tasmania, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators.

School of Music faculty member since 2002.