Philip Lawson (born 1957) is a British choral conductor, composer, and arranger. For 18 years he was a baritone with the King's Singers and the group's principal arranger for the last fifteen years of that period. In 2009, the group's album Simple Gifts, on which Lawson arranged 10 out of 15 tracks, won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album.
Background
Philip Lawson was born in Crawley, West Sussex, England, and attended Hazelwick School. He was not from a musical family, but a chance meeting introduced him to the boys' choir of Worth Church, which sparked his interest in music. He studied music at the University of York under Wilfrid Mellers and sang counter-tenor in the choir of York Minster under Francis Jackson.
Singing career
Lawson switched from counter-tenor to baritone in 1978 at age 21. After graduating, he moved to London and worked for three years as a soloist and with choirs including The BBC Singers, The Taverner Choir, Opera Rara, and the choirs of St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Southwark Cathedral.
From 1982 to 1993, Lawson was a Lay Clerk in Salisbury Cathedral Choir under Richard Seal, and from 1989 he was Director of Music of Chafyn Grove Preparatory School. During this time he also performed with The Sixteen, the English Concert, and CM90, and worked as a pianist and arranger for a local dance band.
In June 1993, Lawson successfully auditioned for the part of second baritone with The King's Singers, replacing founder-member Simon Carrington. In 1996 he volunteered to fill the vacancy for first baritone and continued to sing this part until his departure in February 2012.
Composing and arranging
Lawson contributed over 50 arrangements to the repertoire of The King's Singers. He has 10 arrangements on the group's Grammy-winning album Simple Gifts, recorded in 2008. In 2000, Lawson was nominated for a Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album for Circle of Life. In 2008, he won a Grammy for Simple Gifts at the ceremony held in Los Angeles in February 2009.
Lawson also wrote the lyrics to "Born on a New Day", the Christmas version of the King's Singers' arrangement of "You are the New Day".
As a composer of choral music, he has more than 250 published titles. Most of his works are in print with Hal Leonard Corporation in the US, and he also has works published by Oxford University Press, Schott Music, Boosey & Hawkes, Walton Music, Peters Edition, The Lorenz Corporation, Morningstar Music, Pavane Publications, Alliance Music, Banks Music, Alfred Music, Encore Publications, and Schoolplay Productions.
Conducting
Since September 2016, Philip Lawson has been musical director of The Romsey Singers, a chamber choir based in Romsey, near Southampton. In 2022, he was appointed musical director of The Farrant Singers, a chamber choir in Salisbury founded by Richard Lloyd in 1958.
Teaching
Lawson teaches choral singing, composing, and arranging, working with choirs and a cappella groups in Europe and the US. He spent ten years on the staff of the Vocal Department of Wells Cathedral specialist music school and is a voice teacher at the University of Bristol. In 2014 and 2016, he was a lecturer at the European Seminar for Young Composers in Aosta, Italy. He has been described by Choir & Organ magazine as a "choral polymath".
Discography
Philip Lawson appears on all King's Singers recordings from 1994 to 2012, including the Grammy-winning albums Simple Gifts (2009) and Light and Gold (2012, with Eric Whitacre).
