27 Larry Westland: Producer Larry Westland, producer of the Schools Prom, has been closely associated with youth music for many years. In addition to presenting a number of concerts involving young musicians, he is Director of the National Festival of Music for Youth, the British Marching Band Championships and the Melody Maker Rock and Folk Contest.
Rick Wakeman: Guest Musician At 16, Rick Wakeman decided to become a concert pianist, and attended the Royal Academy of Music for 18 months to study piano and clarinet and subsequently taught music. In 1971 he joined forces with 'Yes' and stayed with this highly acclaimed band until May 1974, when he left to pursue a solo career. His album "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" met with thunderous critical and popular acclaim and in the intervening years he has produced three additional solo albums, "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table", and "No Earthly Connection". In N ovem ber 1976, he rejoined 'Yes' and today, both as an integral part of 'Yes' and as a solo artist, Rick Wakeman enjoys the status of an international superstar. John Williams: Guest Soloist John Williams was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1941 and began playing the guitar at the age of seven. In 1952 he began studying with Segovia and, on his recommendation, undertook a full musical education and entered the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where Segovia himself teaches. In England he attended the Royal College of Music studying piano and musical theory. The superb skill and accuracy of his playing has been acclaimed throughout the world and his artistry and musicianship have built for him an incredibly wide audience of differing musical tastes. John has become very well-known to television viewers in Britain through his many appearances in a wide variety of programmes. Andrew Lloyd Webber: Guest Conductor Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948. He is the eldest son of W. S. Lloyd Web ber who is the principal of the London College of Music. He was a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School and a history exhibitioner at Magdalen College, Oxford. However he left Oxford in 1966 after one term to study music at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music. His first music to be published was a piano suite of excerpts from musicals he wrote for his toy theatre which appeared when he was nine. In 1965 he met Tim Rice and he collaborated with him on a musical based on the life of Dr Barnardo. Subsequently, with Tim Rice as lyricist, he has written the music for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Evita (1976). He composed the score to Alan Ayckboum's book and lyrics for Jeeves (1975) and the film scores for Gumshoe (1971) and The Odessa File (1974). Andrew Lloyd Webber's first solo album Variations was issued in February 1978 and was certified a gold record within five weeks of release.