remarkable English conductor, composer, and writer on music; b. London, Aug. 23, 1905; d. there, Aug. 21, 1951. Lambert won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with the composer and teachers R.O. Morris and RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS from 1915 to 1922.

Lambert's first major score, the 1926 ballet Romeo and Juliet, was commissioned by the great dance producer Serge Diaghilev. This early association with the dance proved decisive, for he spent most of his life as a conductor and composer of ballets. His interest in jazz resulted in such fine scores as Elegiac Blues for orchestra and The Rio Grande for piano, chorus, and orchestra, both composed in 1927; and the Concerto for piano and nine performers, written in 1930 -31 . Of his many ballets, the most striking in craftsmanship was his Horoscope in 1937. In the meantime, he became conductor of London's Camargo Society for the presentation of ballets beginning in 1930.

Lambert was made music director of the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1931, remaining in that capacity after it became the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet. After resigning in 1947, he was made one of its artistic directors in 1948 and conducted it on its first visit to the U.S. a year later. He also appeared at London's Covent Garden (1937, 1939, 1946-47). Lambert was associate conductor of the London Promenade Concerts in 1945-46, and frequently conducted broadcast performances over the BBC. Lambert also wrote on music for several British journals.

Lambert was one of the most gifted musicians of his generation. However, his demanding work as a conductor and his excessive consumption of alcohol prevented him from fully asserting himself as a composer in his later years.