When I was Principal at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, I saw the work the students put in, the hours they do without knowing they’re going to have a successful career. The standard of playing is phenomenal: technical perfection you can just take for granted as these guys practice endlessly. It’s really exciting it gives them a huge platform. Obviously, I’m very happy to help them if I can. The main thing, really, is as musicians they need to be heard. That’s why Sky Arts came into it because it isn't just listening to recordings it is obviously a visual thing, to see these musicians in action. There are quite a few that I’m now very friendly with and we talk about careers. Have you established ongoing relationships with these young musicians? Then we did a second list which came out recently. I did a five-part series, each was two hours, so altogether ten hours of radio featuring these artists. I went to Classic FM with the idea that if they can’t play in concerts let’s play their recordings. Suddenly their concerts were just cancelled and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. It really started in lockdown because I knew of all these wonderful young musicians who had no outlet whatsoever. With young people in mind, can you tell us how the Classic FM Risings Stars project came about? I’ve written about it before and so have many musicians, but the government just doesn't seem to listen. We owe it to the children to bring that back. I first went to Junior College when was nine and nearly everyone there was from a state school and now that’s absolutely not the case. You've got Year 10 working with Year 7 it’s a wonderful thing. The school has gone from being a ‘Good’ school to ‘Outstanding’ because music is the centre of it, and it brings all the students together. I went there a couple of weeks ago, and I was just so impressed. I’m patron of the Guildford County School which I believe is the only state school left now that is a specialist music school. It should be a birth right – that children have access to music. It can be such a positive thing in people’s lives, but I’m mortified really that it is so patchy in schools. Obviously other kinds of music can do that, I’ve seen that all my life, you know really seen the effect music has on young people. She's joined a Saturday morning course and she's really loving it. She played Trunchbull, and she frightened everyone to death. Jasmine has tried instruments without much enthusiasm, but she's really taken to musical theatre – I’ve got no idea where that’s come from(!) She was in Matilda last year at school and she was outstanding. Is your daughter Jasmine carrying on in the tradition? Julian, the first thing to acknowledge is your family background is extraordinarily musical. We spoke with him ahead of the broadcast to find out more. Renowned cellist, conductor, music educator and founder of the Classic FM 30 under 30 Project, Julian Lloyd Webber OBE, will be participating in a Sky Arts special this November, filmed at LSO St Lukes.
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