{"id":571873,"date":"2026-07-28T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571873\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:00:12","slug":"julian-lloyd-webber-on-his-brother-andrew-people-would-love-me-to-say-we-were-competing-every-day-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571873\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Lloyd Webber on his brother Andrew: \u2018People would love me to say we were competing every day\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julian Lloyd Webber<\/a> turned 75 a few months ago, but he wasn\u2019t really thinking about that milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking more about this concert at the Wigmore on that day,\u201d the celebrated cellist says of the event held in his honour at the London venue. \u201cBecause I never believed I would play again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber had been forced into early retirement in 2014, when a herniated disc in his neck prevented him from using his bowing arm to full effect. The clincher, he says, was his 15-year-old daughter, Jasmine, who overheard him and his wife, Jiaxin, speaking about the potential programme. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe suddenly said, \u2018Oh, I wish I\u2019d heard you playing in concert, Dad.\u2019 And I thought, \u2018Oh. Maybe I could try to do something.\u2019 So I played Faur\u00e9\u2019s \u00c9l\u00e9gie, which is about eight minutes long.\u201d He shakes his head in disbelief. \u201cAnd I never imagined I would do that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The musician, conductor, broadcaster, music educator and now memoirist is on a flying visit to Dublin with his wife, a native of Shanghai and herself a cellist. Jasmine does not play \u2013 she is \u201cmore interested in politics\u201d, her parents note with wry smiles \u2013 but Jiaxin will join her husband for their forthcoming Bach, Bows and Arrows tour of Ireland. <\/p>\n

She will play from Bach\u2019s famous cello suites and Lloyd Webber will regale the audience with stories from his recent memoir. The second half of the show will see an audience Q&A where \u201canything could happen\u201d, while he will also attempt to play a short piece \u201cwith an Irish connotation\u201d himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t be long, but I\u2019m going to try to do it,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I mean, honestly, if you\u2019d said to me that one day I\u2019d sit down and play again at the National Concert Hall<\/a> in Dublin, I would\u2019ve said no chance. But I want to do it. I\u2019m determined to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber\u2019s playing career may have been prematurely curtailed, but his passion for music remains as strong as ever. Sprightly of mind, and with his piercing blue eyes and trademark mop of tousled hair, he hasn\u2019t lost the air of a maverick; this is a man, after all, who once played at a celebration of his brother Andrew\u2019s<\/a> work at the Royal Albert Hall wearing a jersey of his beloved Leyton Orient FC. <\/p>\n

That recent memoir, Bows and Arrows, pulls back the curtain on Lloyd Webber\u2019s career as a cellist, as well as his eventful upbringing in London, the various luminaries he has worked with and the details of his four marriages. The book also dispels some myths that have dogged him, including an assumed rivalry with his brother.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew (left) and Julian Lloyd Webber with their father, organist and composer William Lloyd Webber, in January 1978. Photograph: Dennis Stone\/Evening Standard\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

\u201cI think people would love me to say, \u2018Yes, we were competing every day,\u2019 or, \u2018I was playing a cello and he was writing musicals,\u2019 but it just wasn\u2019t a competition. As I say in the book, I love him to bits \u2013 although I\u2019ve been a bit cheeky about him,\u201d he adds, chuckling. <\/p>\n

Does he feel that he has lived in Andrew\u2019s shadow, though? He shrugs. \u201cIt depends on the shadows, you know? Because, to me, classical music is extremely important, and sometimes I feel that when people say that, [are they insinuating] that classical music is under the shadow of what he does?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of their success and their well-spokenness, many would also assume that the brothers grew up in a privileged home. That was not the case, as Lloyd Webber explains in his memoir. Although their parents were professional musicians, they grew up in a \u201crun-down Victorian block of flats in what today is oh-so-posh South Kensington\u201d. <\/p>\n

Before Julian was born, the family kept a pet monkey called Mimi. The house was loud and often chaotic; at one point Andrew\u2019s writing partner Tim Rice also lived with them. <\/p>\n

Their father, William, was a composer and director of the London College of Music, but there was no nepotism or handouts. Both brothers won scholarships on their own merit. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was made very clear that we had to make our own living and that [our parents] weren\u2019t going to support us,\u201d he says. \u201cI think if I hadn\u2019t got a scholarship, they wouldn\u2019t have paid for me to go to college, either, because they really didn\u2019t have the money. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was the right decision, totally. I think, in the long run, you\u2019ve got to have an incentive. All the time I was at college I was thinking, \u2018What am I going to do? I\u2019ve got to earn some money.\u2019 It\u2019s a good life lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0New National Concert Hall boss: \u2018I hope to be here for the grand reopening\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The young Julian was drawn to the cello because \u201cof how it looked when it was being played\u201d; he went on to work with wide-ranging notables in music, from Yehudi Menuhin to Elton John<\/a>, who \u201cbreezed in, tennis rackets over his shoulders\u201d, to record a cello-led version of Your Song.<\/p>\n

He has been happily married to Jiaxin since 2009; Bows and Arrows also goes into the difficulties of his previous marriages, particularly the acrimonious relationship with his third wife, Kheira Bourahla. \u201cI had to admit that I lost the plot,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause I should never have [got married].\u201d<\/p>\n

A distressing passage in which he documents being abused by a stranger on the London Underground as a nine-year-old was similarly challenging to recount. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, all abuse is bad, but this was particularly traumatic because it changed me at that point,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d always been a happy child, and suddenly I was shy and very withdrawn and very nervous around adults. So it completely changed my life. I had to write about it, but I found it difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his neck injury, Lloyd Webber was somewhat resigned to never playing professionally again. Instead he threw himself into his other passion, one he had inherited from his father: music education. He was appointed principal of Birmingham Conservatoire a year after retiring; before that, he founded the In Harmony government-led social and music education programme in 2009. <\/p>\n

\"JulianJulian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber <\/p>\n

He has been a fierce advocate of placing instruments in the hands of children who may not otherwise have the opportunity to play, because he thinks \u201cit\u2019s very important for people to fulfil their gifts in life\u201d.<\/p>\n

As he gears up for their forthcoming tour, there is clearly no sign of Lloyd Webber slowing down, even after he received a diagnosis of prostate cancer in recent months and underwent \u201cintensive radiation treatment\u201d. It is important to share his experience, he says, \u201cbecause people need to hear these things\u201d and be proactive about their health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was diagnosed with a benign prostate condition in 2017,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd because the PSA\u201d \u2013 prostate-specific antigen \u2013 \u201clevel can rise when you have a benign issue, I kept being retested, and it kept going slightly up. And then last summer they said, \u2018Look, you\u2019ve got to have a biopsy.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I read about the biopsy, and I didn\u2019t want to do it.\u201d He shakes his head. \u201cFinally, in December, I had it \u2013 and it was positive. So I guess you should be tested, on balance, even though waiting for the results to come through is difficult. And combined with the radiation treatment, they give you these hormone pills, and I found those really very, very difficult.\u201d <\/p>\n

He shrugs. \u201cI\u2019m off them now, but I don\u2019t know. I get the results just before this tour starts, and I don\u2019t see any reason why it shouldn\u2019t have worked. They\u2019re very good at what they do, so I\u2019m completely optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Reality check: Can Julian Casablancas and The Strokes really save rock\u2019n\u2019roll?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber shared his diagnosis with his fans after his 75th-birthday concert; he has also had to contend with the ugly side of social media. On one Facebook update he noted how \u201canonymous Daily Mail readers\u201d had blamed his illness on the fact that he dyes his hair. He made light of it at the time, but it\u2019s clearly a topic that irks him.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are incredibly sensitive about what you can say about anyone or anything nowadays, aren\u2019t they? And you can find yourself with police knocking on the door, and being banned and cancelled \u2013 yet people can anonymously write the most vile shit, and nothing is done,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow can that be right? How can those social media [companies], and even newspapers, how can they [allow it]? Do they not mediate those comments? It shouldn\u2019t be possible to write that stuff, not just about me but anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now it\u2019s onwards and upwards with a positive frame of mind. There is much to look forward to and much to be proud of about his eventful career, from the people he has worked with to the prestigious places and events that he has played. Is he happy with his lot? He frowns for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really think about that,\u201d he says. \u201cI think if you keep asking yourself \u2018Am I happy?\u2019 then you\u2019re probably not. I think that happiness is doing things \u2013 and for me it\u2019s bringing music to people. It\u2019s always been about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bach, Bows and Arrows: A Very Intimate Audience with Julian & Jiaxin Lloyd Webber<\/a> begins at the Bardic Theatre in Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, on Tuesday, August 25th. It includes dates at the Guildhall, in Derry; Lyric Theatre, in Belfast; Braid Arts Centre, in Ballymena; Portico of Ards, in Portaferry; Market Place Theatre, in Armagh; Town Hall Theatre, in Galway; Lime Tree Theatre, in Limerick; National Concert Hall, in Dublin; Gl\u00f3r Theatre, Ennis; and Live at St Luke\u2019s, Cork; before finishing at Mullingar Arts Centre, in Co Westmeath, on Sunday, September 6th. Bows and Arrows, Julian Lloyd Webber\u2019s memoir, is published by Biteback<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julian Lloyd Webber turned 75 a few months ago, but he wasn\u2019t really thinking about that milestone. \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[151462,321,16915,93,61,60,225814],"class_list":["post-571873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-andrew-lloyd-webber","tag-celebrities","tag-elton-john","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-julian-lloyd-webber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}