Geoffrey Lancaster AO (b. 1954), fortepianist and orchestral director, grew up in Dubbo and attended the Canberra School of Music before furthering his studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 1986, in Bruges, he became the first Australian to win a major international keyboard competition. A leader of the historically-informed performance practice movement, he has appeared as pianist and conductor with such orchestras as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Stockholm, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Cologne Gürzenich, Ensemble 415, Concerto Copenhagen, Tafelmusik, and every major Australian orchestra. He was Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Chamber Players, and Chief Conductor of La Cetra Barockorchester Basel; has lectured at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Royal Academy of Music and the Amsterdam Conservatory; and has made more than fifty recordings. Among many honours, he was ACT Australian of the Year in 2006. Professor of Music at the ANU from 2002, he established the institution’s superb collection of early keyboard instruments. When not teaching and performing throughout Australia and internationally, Lancaster now divides his time between the University of Western Australia, Perth, and the Australian National University, Canberra.
