Acclaimed organist Anna Lapwood returns with her new album, ‘Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost’, released Friday 13th November on Sony Masterworks, one that will whisk you away into a vividly realised world of fantastical characters, dark forests, looming mountains and tempestuous seas.
One of the most gifted artists of her generation, Lapwood is famed for introducing the organ to millions of new fans through her interpretations of both classical and contemporary works. On this new record – her most ambitious to date – she dives into two of the most iconic film soundtracks, Howard Shore’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and Hans Zimmer’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, reimagining them as major works for organ and using them to showcase the Steinmeyer organ of Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim.
Ahead of the album, the first two tracks – “Prologue: ‘One Ring to Rule Them All’” and “The Shire/Concerning Hobbits”, both taken from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Organ Symphony – arrive this Friday 11th September, and feature Anna singing in Elvish. Elsewhere on the album, Anna is joined on ‘Rivendell’ and ‘Song For Justice’ by the Nidaros Cathedral Girls’ Choir, conducted by Johanna Bjørkhaug.
The album grew out of a chance encounter in an NYC coffee shop, when a young girl called Katherine requested ‘Concerning Hobbits’ from The Lord of the Rings. That ignited a spark which would eventually become Anna’s largest transcription project yet: The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony. “It has been the most extraordinary journey delving into JRR Tolkien’s world in more detail, and into Howard Shore’s incredible scores. I knew that if I was going to do it, I would need to go all in! When I wrote the Pirates of the Caribbean Suite a couple of years ago it was my largest scale (and hardest!) transcription I had ever written. I feel like everything I learned from that informed The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony, which is by far the biggest project I’ve ever worked on and has completely transformed how I think about the organ. It has been such a beautiful process and has made me fall in love with the organ all over again!”
Transcribing everything by ear, Anna enlisted the help of fellow ‘The Lord of the Rings’ fans to choose which movements to include, exploring Howard Shore’s motivic development while maintaining a clear sense of the story’s narrative arc. She also had the opportunity to speak with Howard Shore himself, who offered suggestions along the way. “Howard and his team have been so kind and generous with their time and support during this whole process, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to ask their advice!,” she says.
Demonstrating her talent in concert halls around the world and drawing a huge and loyal following on social media, Anna shot to fame on TikTok and now has over 4 million followers across all platforms. She has been hailed as a sensation by the media, covered by major titles including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The New York Times with Tatler hailing her “the Taylor Swift of classical music”. “Social media has helped make me who I am as a performer” Lapwood has previously explained, “in that it’s made me realise that I’m allowed to be myself onstage. Now I actually feel like I’m the freest version of myself when I’m performing – and that’s a rather lovely thing”.
Anna trained at the Junior Royal Academy of Music on the piano, harp, viola, and violin. Naturally shy, she found music was one of the ways she could most easily communicate. At school in Oxford, she played 15 different instruments, four of them to Grade 8 standard. In 2012, she became the first woman in Magdalen College, Oxford’s 560-year history to be awarded an organ scholarship.
Then, when she was just 21, Anna became the youngest person ever to hold the position of Director of Music at Oxford or Cambridge, leading the choirs at Pembroke College, Cambridge. She stepped down in 2025, after nine years in the role to pursue a full-time career as a concert organist. She has performed with pop stars like RAYE and Florence & the Machine, opened for Ludovico Einaudi at the O2 arena, and has even given Tom Cruise an organ lesson at the Royal Albert Hall, where she is the Official Organist.
A lover of storytelling through the instrument, Anna introduces a new element on this album, singing in Elvish throughout The Lord of the Rings Organ Symphony. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but for me it was very important to the project. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ isn’t just a story you read; it’s a world that you enter” she explains. “I really feel like I’ve lived it for the past year, as though I’ve been living in Middle Earth. I knew Howard Shore was a genius before I started this project, but the more you look at it and the more time you spend with his music, the more extraordinary it is.”
Anna has worked hard to shift the narrative around both the organ and classical music. With ‘Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost’, she is keen to promote the intrinsic value of film music. “This is the music I played in my school orchestras, when I was growing up; it’s the music that made me want to compose,” she says. “It is incredible, intelligent, beautiful music, and I think it is deserving of so much respect! I’ve tried to treat it with that respect in creating this album, showing just how virtuosic if can be. Film music isn’t some secondary art form; it is essential to the success of the stories we know and love. For me, film music is the music that makes my heart sing.”
Pre-save the album here https://annalapwood.lnk.to/NotAllThoseWhoWanderAreLost
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