Llyr Williams
The young Welsh pianist, Llŷr Williams, brings an extraordinary musical intelligence to all his work, as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. He has performed with such orchestras as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales (with whom he successfully toured the USA), Sinfonia Cymru, London Mozart Players, Hallé Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed at the BBC Proms in London and has given many remarkable performances at the Edinburgh Festival.
This season brings a busy mix of recitals, concerti, accompaniment and chamber music. Llŷr Williams and Alexander Janiczek will continue their successful series at Perth Concert Hall with four concerts, exploring Beethoven’s middle years through the Sonatas for Violin and Piano, and some of the Piano Sonatas. Williams will tour in Europe with Mitsuko Uchida, Christian Poltéra, Soovin Kim and Martin Fröst, as part of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust’s celebrations of its fifth anniversary, with venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. In the summer of 2009, he will also be one of the official accompanists for the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He will work with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and will make a welcome return to I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan to work with Antonello Manacorda and Alexander Janiczek, performing Berg’s Chamber Concerto and Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto. He will give a series of four concerts for BBC Radio 3 in Cardiff: two recitals, one concert with the Leopold String Trio, and one with bass Shen Yang. Williams will make his recital débuts at the Lucerne Festival, in the Wigmore Hall’s main recital series and at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In 2005 Llŷr Williams was awarded the MIDEM Classique ‘Outstanding Young Artist Award’ in partnership with the International Artist Managers’ Association. His first commercial CD featuring Chopin’s Préludes was released in March 2006 on the Quartz label. He is also the subject of a film – Y Pianydd – Llŷr Williams – by Opus TF for S4C (the Welsh language broadcaster) which recently won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Music Programme. The programme also won an award at the Celtic Media Festival, held on the Isle of Skye, for Best Entertainment Programme.
Born in 1976 in Pentrebychan, North Wales, Llŷr Williams read music at The Queen’s College, Oxford, graduating in 1998 with a first class alpha degree. He went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every prize and award. From 2000-02 he was a ‘Shinn’ Fellow at the Academy, coaching singers and studying conducting. He was also an active member of the Live Music Now! scheme for several years. In 2002, Llŷr Williams was selected for the Young Concert Artists Trust scheme and received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2004.
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