Llŷr Williams (born 1976) is a Welsh

concert pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Childhood

Williams was born in the village of

Pentre Bychan Pentre Bychan, with the literal meaning of "little village", is a semi-rural hamlet in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Variously spelled as either one word or two (Pentre Bychan or Pentrebychan), it is situated between Rhostyllen and Johnstown ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, Wales. He inherited an interest in opera from his father, and before the age of seven he was attending performances in

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craig ...

and in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. He started with the operas of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, but by the age of ten he had also developed a taste for those of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. He began piano lessons at the age of seven. By the age eleven he had passed Grades I-VIII, all with Distinction.

Education

Williams was educated at Ysgol Hooson in Rhosllanerchrugog and

Ysgol Morgan Llwyd Ysgol Morgan Llwyd is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school in Wrexham, in north-east Wales, UK. It is the first, and is the only Welsh-medium secondary school in Wrexham County Borough. It is named after the seventeenth century preacher and aut ...

in Wrexham, and then read music at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, from 1995 to 1998, finishing with a First-Class degree and being awarded The Gibbs Prize in Music for outstanding performance in his final examinations. He attended the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

as a postgraduate scholar and studied with Michael Dussek, Iain Ledingham,

Hamish Milne Hamish Milne (27 April 1939 – 12 February 2020) was an English pianist known for his advocacy of Nikolai Medtner. Milne studied at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he taught, and ...

Julius Drake The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...

and

Irina Zaritskaya Irina Zaritskaya (May 2, 1939 - July 30, 2001) was a Ukrainian pianist. Early life and education Zaritskaya started playing the piano at the Children’s Music School in Kiev until 1953, and subsequently continued her studies at the Central Speci ...

. He won every available prize at the Academy and received its highest academic award, the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music (DipRAM). in 2000. Upon graduating he was elected to a Shinn Fellowship (2000–02), during his tenure of which he studied conducting and coaching singing.

Awards

In May 2002 Williams was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust. In the same year he won the Critics' Prize at the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

. In 2003 he joined the

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the n ...

. In 2004 he received an award of £20,000 from the

Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Borletti-Buitoni Trust () (BBT) was established as a charitable trust in 2002 to help young musicians throughout the world. The Trust assists classical instrumentalists, ensembles and singers in their early 20s and 30s to further develop their ...

, part of which he said he would spend on replacing the mechanics of his piano, which had become worn out through being played for six hours each day. In 2005 he received the Outstanding Young Artist Award from Midem Classique and the International Artist Managers' Association. In 2009 he was awarded the

Glyndŵr Award The Glyndŵr Award ( Welsh: Gwobr Glyndŵr) is made for an outstanding contribution to the arts in Wales. It is given by the Machynlleth Tabernacle Trust to pre-eminent figures in music, art and literature in rotation. The award takes its name af ...

for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales. In 2018 Williams was made an Honorary Fellow of

Wrexham Glyndŵr University , mottoeng = Confidence through Education , logo = Wrexham Glyndŵr University Logo.svg , image = Coat of arms of Wrexham Glyndŵr.svg , image_size = 180px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , established = 1887, as Wrexham School of Scien ...

for his services to music.

Recordings

Williams appeared on the cover CD of the June 2005 issue of ''BBC Music Magazine'', performing works by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

. In 2006 he released his first commercial recording, Chopin's ''Préludes'', on the Quartz label. His first commercial recording of songs, with Welsh

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

Paul Carey Jones Paul Carey Jones (born 11th March 1974 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh-Irish bass-baritone opera singer. Early life and education Jones was born in Cardiff, to a Welsh father (from Carmarthenshire) and an Irish mother (from County Mayo), and is ...

, titled ''Enaid – Songs of the Soul'', was released in November 2007 on the Sain label. For the Signum Classics label he released a 2010 disc of music inspired by paintings or engravings, with works by

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

and Liszt, and a 2012 disc of works by Liszt. For Ty Cerdd Records he has recorded sets of bagatelles by Daniel Jones and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...

, released in 2013, and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by William Mathias, released in 2017. More recently for Signum Classics he has released albums of solo piano music by

in 2014, the complete piano sonatas by Beethoven in 2018, and an eight-CD compendium of music by Schubert in 2020.Signum Classics website
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Concert engagements

Early in 2007 Williams performed at 11 venues in the United States on his tour with the

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) ( cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Gymreig y BBC) is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisatio ...

. He has performed at the

every year since 2002. In the same year he was appointed an official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a role he continues to fulfil. He made his

Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

début in 2005, playing Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

conducted by Jiri Belohlavek. Later that year he appeared in the

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Birthday Concert at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The Q ...

in aid of the Young Concert Artists Trust and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

. He has also performed in the

Mostly Mozart Festival The Mostly Mozart Festival is an American classical music festival based in New York City. Venues The festival presents concerts with its resident ensemble, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, principally at David Geffen Hall of the Lincoln C ...

at the

Barbican Arts Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhib ...

, the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...

, Amersham Festival, and Gregynog Festival and he has given more than fifty concerts as part of the

Live Music Now Live Music Now is a charity working and campaigning to create inclusive, measurable social impact through music. Live Music Now works with special educational needs providers and care homes to provide live music participation to those living in ...

scheme. He is at present the Resident Pianist at Y Galeri concert hall in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor ...

, Gwynedd.

Media coverage

Williams was the subject of a documentary film, ''Y Pianydd – Llŷr Williams'' on Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Channel Four Wales) (S4C). He has also appeared on

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467, Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K310, and Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K397.

References

Other sources

*Artists' Biographies: Llŷr Williams, programme for the ''Mozart Birthday Concert'' (

, Sunday 30 January 2005), p. 10

External links

BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff
at Borletti-Buitoni Trust
Dorset County Council Sound of Sunshine project
* ttps://www.londonclassicalconcerts.co.uk/artists/LlyrWilliams.html Llŷr’s concerts in London {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Llyr People from Wrexham County Borough Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Living people 1976 births Welsh classical pianists People educated at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 21st-century classical pianists