The new album, set to be released in June, is a recording of three symphonic suites from his best known musicals.
This newly announced album is the first live performance to take place at the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane, following Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres’ two year, £60 million total restoration.
Titled Andrew Lloyd Webber: Symphonic Suites, the album is a recording of three newly-orchestrated suites from Evita, Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard, specially selected from Lloyd Webber’s musicals.
Talking about the news, Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “For over a year now, we have lived without the joy of live music. To bring an 81-piece orchestra into the new Theatre Royal Drury Lane for this first performance on the biggest stage in London, feels like a momentous step forward. As we fight to bring performers back to work and theatres back to life, I hope that this album might now take on a new meaning: the music which represents the triumphant and hopeful return of live music, theatre and entertainment across the world.”
The orchestra performing these suites, conducted by Simon Lee, brings together some of the world’s most skilled musicians, united after a year of separation. For some, this is a first chance to return to live recording after the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The recording was conducted in line with all the Government’s current Covid-19 protocols.
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Symphonic Suites is released on Decca Records in June 2021.