Geoffrey Lancaster - Life and Career

Life and Career

Lancaster is an expert in historical performance practice of the works of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven and has appeared as concerto soloist and conductor with all of the major Australian orchestras including the symphony orchestras of Queensland, Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmania, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Toronto. He has toured Germany, Switzerland, China and Japan as soloist with leading international orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He also tours Australia for Musica Viva Australia. He has worked extensively with the German conductor Markus Stenz, as well as with Bruno Weil, Sir Charles Mackerras, Gustav Leonhardt, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Lancaster also works with smaller orchestras including the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and La Cetra Barockorchester Basel as both soloist and conductor. He is artistic director of the Ensemble of the Classic Era.

Geoffrey Lancaster is also a professor of music and teaches 18th Century Performance Practice, piano, harpsichord and fortepiano. From 1999 to 2009 he taught at the Australian National Academy of Music, University of Melbourne. He was Head of the Keyboard Department at the Australian National University, and a member of the ANU Academic Board. He continues his research and teaching at the UWA School of Music. He also teaches at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.