The cellist and music education campaigner has renewed calls for all children to have access to free music education in UK schools
In an Instagram video, Julian Lloyd Webber has called on the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, to improve music education in UK schools. He said:
’We used to have a music education system in the UK that was the envy of the world. Now we don’t. If you truly believe in equality for our children, please seize this moment and ensure that all our schools are filled once again with the sound of music.’
He referred to Burnham’s 2009 visit, when he was culture secretary, to the In Harmony Liverpool Philharmonic programme, founded by Lloyd Webber in 2008, where he saw first-hand the transformative effect that access to music was having on children.
The cellist backs efforts for all children in UK schools to receive at least some music education. He also mentioned that the call has come from across the music industry, including from violinist Nicola Benedetti, fellow cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, as well as Elton John, Adele and Ed Sheeran.
Lloyd Webber, together with Dame Evelyn Glennie and Sir James Galway, launched the Music Education Consortium more than 25 years ago to campaign for all children to have access to music in school.
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