Andrew Lamb (writer) - Biography

Biography

Lamb was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, on 23 September 1942, the son of Harry Lamb, a schoolmaster, and his wife Winifred, née Emmott. He was educated at Werneth Council School, Oldham, Manchester Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He graduated in mathematics in 1963, gaining a Masters degree in 1967 and a Doctorate of Letters in 2006. In addition to his musical work, he maintained a full-time career as an actuary and investment manager with major financial institutions in the UK, having qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1972. He married in 1970 and has two daughters and a son. He has been a member of Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1954.

In 1980, Lamb was a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain Light Opera Enquiry, and in 1988 he was a member of the jury of the Offenbach International Singing Competition in Paris. From 1987 to 1996 he assisted Antonio de Almeida on the latter's Offenbach thematic catalogue. In 1995 he performed in Dan Crawford's production of Noël Coward's Cavalcade, appearing as the Stage Manager at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, and the Major Domo at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. In 2008 he wrote the programme article for the production of Amadeo Vives's La Generala at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, and in 2009 he was a speaker at the Ruperto Chapí Centenary Congress in Valencia, Spain. He has also given talks for English National Opera at the Coliseum Theatre, London, and at the Buxton Festival. He is a member of the Honorary Board of the Centro Studi Eric Sams.

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "a noted authority on the lighter forms of music theatre" and notes the lucidity of his extensive writings on a wide range of musical topics, including zarzuela, operetta, American and British musical theatre, Arthur Sullivan, the Strauss family, Jacques Offenbach, Jerome Kern and the Waldteufels. Lamb has said: "I am dedicated to upgrading the status and appreciation of lighter forms of music."