West Wight Arts Association

“...And few could have expected his performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition to be so overwhelming. There wasn’t a finger out of place all evening, and the dramatic plotting was spot on…”

Guardian Newspaper, 2 March 2009, Andrew Clements (Wigmore Hall recital)

The Welsh pianist, Llŷr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. He has performed with orchestras around the world, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales (with whom he successfully toured the USA), London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru and the Minnesota Orchestra. He also appears regularly at the BBC Proms in London and has given many remarkable performances at the Edinburgh Festival.

Autumn highlights included a very successful debut in Salzburg, performing Schumann’s piano concerto with the Mozarteum Orchestra and Ivor Bolton, several concerts at the Schubertiade in Perth Concert Hall, a return to Welsh National Orchestra to play Mozart with Carlo Rizzi and Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the London Philharmonic and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. During 2010 he will be performing a Beethoven sonata cycle around the UK and giving recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Handelbeurs Concertzaal in Ghent as well as three concerts at the Aschau Festival with violinist Alexander Janiczek.

The 2008-2009 season saw Williams make his recital debuts at the Lucerne Festival, in the Wigmore Hall's main recital series and at Carnegie Hall. He was one of the official accompanists for the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and took part in three Proms concerts: a performance of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, a solo lunchtime recital and a chamber music concert celebrating 10 years of the BBC’s New Generation Artists. He also toured in Europe with Mitsuko Uchida, Christian Poltéra, Soovin Kim and Martin Fröst, as part of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust's celebration of its fifth anniversary, with venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. In February, 2009 he gave a series of four concerts for BBC Radio 3 in Cardiff, to celebrate the opening of Hoddinott Hall: two solo recitals, one concert with the Leopold String Trio, and one with bass Shen Yang. In March, Williams made 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. The collaboration with violinist, Alexander Janiczek then continued as they resumed their successful Beethoven series at Perth Concert Hall with four concerts.

Llŷr Williams is also the subject of two films produced by Opus TF for S4C, the first of which won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Music Programme. The second, broadcast in August 2009, followed his debut at Carnegie Hall.

Born in 1976 in Pentrebychan, North Wales, Llŷr Williams read music at The Queen’s College, Oxford and went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every available 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 and in 2004 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

www.llyrwilliams.com