
Christopher Lawrence
Christopher Lawrence's career has encompassed broadcast and print media, studio recording, arts administration and public speaking over more than 45 years.
He has broadcast extensively on ABC Radio (Radio National, Local Radio and Classic FM), BBC TV, ABC TV and the former Ovation Channel. The Swoon CD collections that evolved out of his ABC Classic breakfast program are the highest-selling classical compilations ever released in Australia on CD with sales of more than 500,000 units, earning him three Platinum and three Gold album awards.
Christopher has published four books about music including Swooning – A Classical Music Guide to Life, Love, Lust and other Follies; Swing Symphony and Symphony of Seduction that are available in Australia, the US, UK, Hungary and China. His studio productions with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Stuart Challender, Peter Sculthorpe, Dame Joan Sutherland and Opera Australia have been awarded three ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Awards for Best Classical Recording and the 1989 International Emmy from the US television industry. In 1991 he was made a Churchill Fellow, and in 1999 received an Honorary Doctorate in Communications from the University of Central Queensland for his career in broadcasting.
Christopher has also worked extensively in arts administration as Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia and Executive Producer of Music (Arts) on ABC TV. He is currently Artistic Director of the Sydney Youth Orchestras, President of the Van Diemen’s Band Association, and serves on a number of other company boards.
Christopher has been based in Tasmania since 2007. He is married to baroque violinist Julia Fredersdorff and father of their two daughters, Mina and Belle.