Malvern Concert Club: Llŷr Williams

Llŷr Williams piano

Haydn Piano Sonata in C, Op.17, Hob.XVI:48

Schumann Fantasy in C, Op.17

Rachmaninov Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

Liszt Légende No.1: St François d’Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux S.175

Liszt Mephisto Waltz No.1, S.514

A former BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust award winner, Llŷr Williams was born in Pentrebychan, North Wales, and read music at The Queen’s College, Oxford before taking up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and in 2017 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wales. He is also currently Artist-in-Association at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

2019 saw Williams returning to the Edinburgh Festival, as well as the Cowbridge Festival where he is Artist-in-Residence, and the Gower Festival where he is a Patron. In 2020, prior to lockdown, he returned to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for a recreation of Beethoven’s 1808 Vienna Concert, and gave all-Beethoven recitals in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society in the US. In October 2020, Williams returned to Wigmore Hall for two streamed recitals, while in the same month he completed his Cardiff series ‘Pictures in Music’ at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. 2021 sees the start there of an all-Chopin series spanning two seasons.

Williams’ eclectic repertoire is reflected in his discography. November 2020 saw the release of an 8-disc box-set ‘A Schubert Journey’ on Signum Records. His previous release, the 12-disc ‘Beethoven Unbound’ also on Signum Records, was BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Recording of the Month’ in August 2018. Other recordings by Williams include two solo albums for Signum, as well as William Mathias’ second Piano Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on Welsh label Tŷ Cerdd.