Anna Lapwood describes herself as an “all-rounder”. Which is charming and modest, but also quite an understatement. The formidably talented 26-year-old organist and choral conductor (and singer, pianist, harpist, violinist, percussionist, broadcaster, composer, editor, arranger, gender equality advocate and, oh, TikTok sensation) is speaking to me between rehearsals. This all-rounder is busy.
Lapwood is enjoying a meteoric rise. Hot on the heels of her debut solo album, Images, and her anchoring of the television coverage of BBC Young Musician, there has been the publication of a ground-breaking collection of organ pieces by women, Gregoriana, which Lapwood compiled and edited. Next month she makes her professional Aldeburgh Festival debut — she first played Snape Maltings as a teenage harpist — and the two programmes
