Lawrence Power champions the viola repertoire with a busy Spring diary

With no fewer than two viola concertos composed for him and a 'Brahmsathon' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall performed in less than 10 days, Power gives his full strength to his solo performing and adds yet another gem to the viola repertoire.

Set up as a charitable foundation to support the commissioning of 10 viola concerti for Lawrence Power over 10 years, the Viola Commissioning Circle will launch on 21 May 2019 at the Barbican, with Gerald Barry's Viola Concerto created by the Britten Sinfonia under Thomas Adès.

This exciting venture will be shortly followed by the revival of MacMillan's Viola Concerto on 22 May 2019, created with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski at the Royal Festival Hall on 15 January 2014 and dedicated to Lawrence Power. This highly praised concerto will at long last be recorded by Hyperion, a life time partner of Power's, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins. Date of release yet to be announced.

And to 'have a break' from concerto week, why not add a new challenge in chamber music? On 12 May 2019 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Power and Kolesnikov played all of Brahms’s violin and viola sonatas, five works in total, in a three-hour concert with two intervals, alternating the sonatas for the two instruments.

'There has never been a shortage of violinists, from Paganini onwards, who were willing to moonlight on their instrument’s bigger sibling, the viola. But viola players who also play the violin are less common, perhaps because there are fewer of them to start with. Lawrence Power is the exception; he may be one of the outstanding violists around today, but as he demonstrated in this recital with pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, he is an exceptionally fine violinist, too.' Andrew Clements The Guardian 14 May 2019.