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{{orphan|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|birth_name = Sheila Ann Lawrence
|birth_date = {{birth date|1945|12|12|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Ooty|Ootakamund]], Tamil Nadu State, India
|background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
|genre = Classical
|instrument = Organ
|occupation = Musician
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1990|2|25|1945|12|12}}
|death_place = [[Esher]], Surrey, England
}}

'''Sheila Ann Lawrence''' (December 12, 1945 – February 25, 1990) was a concert organist who performed throughout the UK and broadcast frequently on BBC Radio 3.

== Life and career ==
Sheila Lawrence was born in [[Ooty|Ootakamund]], India in December 1945 to Edward Lawrence and Helena Campbell. Her father was a mercantile assistant and travelled widely.
She studied at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] in London<ref name=WhosWho1980>{{cite book |last1=Gaster |first1=Adrian |title=International Who's Who in Music |date=1980 |publisher=Melrose Press |location=Cambridge |page=426 |edition=9th}}</ref> and made her debut at the [[Purcell Room]], London on 13 December 1973.<ref>{{cite journal |title=London Diary for December |journal=The Musical Times |date=November 1973 |volume=114 |issue=1569 |page=1194}}</ref> Lawrence performed at the Purcell Room throughout her career.<ref>{{cite news |title=Music – South Bank |work=Illustrated London News |date=1 October 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Langley |first1=Robin |title=Organ Recitals |journal=The Musical Times |date=December 1974 |volume=115 |issue=1582 |page=1079}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Millington |first1=Barry |title=Organ Recitals |journal=The Musical Times |date=December 1975 |volume=116 |issue=1594 |page=1092|doi=10.2307/960376 |jstor=960376 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=London Diary for October |journal=The Musical Times |date=September 1975 |volume=116 |issue=1591 |pages=847}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Music – South Bank |work=Illustrated London News |date=1 December 1978}}</ref>

In April 1978, Lawrence appeared at the [[Wigmore Hall]], London with Elisabeth Perry (violin), Christian Rutherford (French horn) and Jonathan Rutherford (piano) in a programme of Bach-Rutherford, Jonathon Rutherford, Mozart, Bach and Brahms.<ref>{{cite news |title=Music – Wigmore Hall |work=Illustrated London News |date=1 April 1978}}</ref> Sheila Lawrence was married to Peter Mitton and had three children.<ref>England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005</ref> She died in 1990 at the age of 44.

== Organ building ==
Lawrence was a member of the Incorporated Society of Organ Builders with a special interest in organ reform, and had built a portable chamber organ.<ref name=WhosWho1980/> The portable organ was built from her design by [[Peter Collins (organ builder)|Peter Collins]], and was a portable concert pipe organ. It was played by Lawrence in October 1980 at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in an organ concert which featured [[Carlo Curley]], [[Noel Rawsthorne]] and William Davies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Music – Albert Hall |work=Illustrated London News |date=1 October 1980}}</ref> It was again played by her in the Albert Hall in April 1982, at an event called 'The Organists Entertain', directed by the organ virtuoso [[Carlo Curley]]. Also performing at the event were [[Pierre Cochereau]], [[Robin Richmond]] and Lyn Larsen.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Front Matter - Royal Albert Hall, The Organists Entertain |journal=The Musical Times |date=March 1982 |volume=123 |issue=1669 |page=156}}</ref>

== Recitals and performances ==
She broadcast on [[BBC Radio 3]] frequently during the 1970s and 1980s and was the Director of Music at the [[Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea|Servite Priory]] in Chelsea, London.
In 1983, to mark the 750th anniversary of the founding of the [[Servite Order]], Lawrence released an LP, on the Meridian Label, of Organ Music from the Servite Priory, entitled 'Magnificat'. It featured works by Buxtehude, A. Schlick, J.S. Bach, N. Bruhns, S. Scheidt, J. Bull and F. Correa de Arauxo. The album was featured on BBC Radio 3's ''New Records'' programme, broadcast in March 1984.<ref>{{cite journal |date=17 March 1984 |title=New Records |journal=The Radio Times |issue=3149}}</ref>

Some of her notable recitals, recorded and broadcast for BBC Radio 3, include: Music for Two Organs, with the organist Robert Munns (July 1975);<ref>{{cite journal |title=Music for Two Organs |journal=Radio Times |date=19 July 1975 |issue=2697}}</ref> Organ works by [[Louis-Nicolas Clérambault|Clerambault]], J.S. Bach and Mendelssohn (June 1977);<ref>{{cite journal |title=Music for Organ |journal=The Radio Times |date=25 June 1977 |issue=2798}}</ref> A performance of works by renaissance composers [[Jean Titelouze]], [[Paul Hofhaimer]], [[Arnolt Schlick]] and [[Peeter Cornet]] with the [[BBC Singers]], conducted by Simon Joly (April 1985).<ref>{{cite news |title=Today's Radio Programmes, Radio 3. |work=Reading Evening Post |date=22 April 1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=BBC Radio 3 - Music for the Iron Voice |journal=Radio Times |date=20 April 1985 |issue=3205}}</ref>

Lawrence also broadcast for [[BBC Radio 4]], playing for the [[The Daily Service|Morning Service]] in April 1984.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Morning Service |journal=The Radio Times |date=31 March 1984 |issue=3151}}</ref>
In February 1989 she played organ and [[virginals]] on BBC Radio 4's ''Saturday Feature,'' which explored the diary of the Elizabethan organ-builder [[Thomas Dallam]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Saturday Feature - Dallam's Organ and the Grand Sultan |journal=The Radio Times |date=4 February 1989 |issue=3400}}</ref>

As well as performing around the UK, Lawrence gave recitals in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy.<ref name=WhosWho1980/> She was a founding member of the British Organ Archive, the archive of the [[British Institute of Organ Studies]].<ref name=WhosWho1980/> In 1982 she wrote an article entitled ''Technique - a key to interpretation'' in the Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lawrence |first1=Sheila |title=Technique - a key to interpretation |journal=Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies |date=1982 |volume=6}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Sheila}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:British classical organists]]
[[Category:English classical organists]]
[[Category:British women organists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Women classical organists]]

Sheila Lawrence - Revision history

Margaretzcd: new a info added tags