‘I’m a massive adrenaline junkie,’ says Anna Lapwood, the 28-year-old ‘TikTok organist’ from the balcony of the Royal Albert Hall which has arguably the greatest view of the 9,999 pipe, 70ft high, 150 tonne instrument. A beast she’ll be playing later that evening to a sell-out 5,000 strong audience at her debut dedicated Late Night Prom – a feat that will require adrenaline aplenty. Anna Lapwood, teeny-tiny in a red suede jacket, flaxen-braid and dark-rimmed specs, is fast becoming the face of classical music – or classical music’s answer to Taylor Swift, depending on which way you look at it.
Like Swift, Lapwood is a once-in-a-generation talent: she’s irreverent, charismatic, a born performer and a whip-smart communicator. Dispel all your preconceptions about what an organ recital might ordinarily entail. At 21, Lapwood became the youngest ever director of music at Pembroke College, .
Prior to that she was the first ever female organ scholar in Magdalen College’s 560-year history. And now, superlatives aside, she’s among classical music’s biggest social media stars with a 555k following on TikTok. ‘Welcome to #OrganTok’ says Lapwood’s social media profile – and it’s a place that brims with late night Royal Albert Hall run-ins with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Italian composer-supreme Ludovico Einaudi.
As well as 2am rehearsals in the hallowed hall, her phone propped into an organ crevice, recording her ballerina-like poise and per.
