Llŷr Williams

Llŷr Williams – pianist

Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence, and for the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. An acclaimed performer of Beethoven, he has several complete sonata cycles under his belt, most recently at Wigmore Hall and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, as well as a Concerto cycle with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The 2019-20 season sees Llŷr Williams continuing his collaboration with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, as well as his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne. Williams also returns to the Edinburgh Festival in August 2019, while for the Beethoven anniversary season he will offer a complete sonata cycle at the Festival Cultural de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico and partial cycles in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

click for full biography

Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence and the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. He has worked with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Meininger Hofkapelle, Berner Kammerorchester, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg. A regular performer in the Wigmore Hall’s main piano series, Williams has also appeared at the BBC Proms in London, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in the USA, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse and the Edinburgh International Festival. He is a regular performer at the East Neuk Festival in Scotland and is currently Artist-in-Association at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Artist-in-Residence at the Cowbridge Festival in Wales.

Williams is an acclaimed performer of Beethoven with several complete piano sonata cycles under his belt. Following a successful first cycle in Perth, Williams subsequently performed a complete cycle during an epic two-week marathon in Edinburgh that won him the prestigious South Bank Show Award. He later completed two cycles as a nine-recital project at the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff between 2014 and 2017. In January 2017 he completed a successful collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of all five Beethoven piano concerti.

The 2018-19 season included his debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to the Royal Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales as well as a highly successful Canadian recital debut at Salle Bourgie in Montreal, with the critic of Le Devoir describing Williams as ‘un secret trop bien gardé’. The 2019-20 season sees Llŷr Williams continuing his collaboration with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, as well as his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne. Williams also returns to the Edinburgh Festival in August 2019, while for the Beethoven anniversary season he will offer a complete sonata cycle at the Festival Cultural de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico and partial cycles in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Llŷr Williams’ eclectic taste is reflected in his discography. April 2018 saw the release of ‘Beethoven Unbound’, a 12-CD Box set of the Wigmore Hall Beethoven cycle, on Signum Records, which was BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Recording of the Month’ in August 2018. His previous critically acclaimed CD, Wagner Without Words (Signum, August 2014) reflects Williams’ intimate relationship with operatic music. 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.

Born 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. He is also 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 was an active member of the Live Music Now! scheme for several years, was selected for the Young Concert Artists Trust in 2002. From 2003-2005 he was a BBC New Generation Artist and in 2004 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award.

June 2019

For full press pack, contact
Nicolas Papageorgiou (Artist Manager)

Contact:
Victoria Rowsell (Managing Director)
Nicolas Papageorgiou (Artist Manager)

Go to top

Videos

Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.32, in C minor, op.111
(RWCMD, May 2017)
00:00 Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionato
09:20 Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.31, in A flat major, op.110
(RWCMD, May 2017)
00:00 Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo
07:20 Allegro molto
09:48 Adagio, ma non troppo

Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.30, in E major, op.109
(RWCMD, May 2017)
00:00 Vivace ma non troppo
04:10 Prestissimo
06:50 Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

Liszt/Verdi
(St Gerorge’s Hall Liverpool, 2013)
00:00 Rigoletto: Paraphrase de concert S434/R267
08:10 Il Trovatore: Miserere S433/R266

Go to top

Reviews

Links to reviews in the press

Le Devoir, 21 February 2019

Classical Source, 3 October 2018

Seen and Heard International, 28 June 2017

Oregon Arts Watch, 17 April 2017

Washington Post, 30 October 2016

The Independent, 12 October 2016

The Guardian, 25 March 2016

Go to top

Concert Dates

June - December 2019

Date & Time	Venue	Details
Saturday 15th June – Saturday, 22nd June	Cardiff, UK	*BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019* Official Accompanist
Saturday, 6th July 19:30	St Peter’s Church Newton, UK	CHOPIN: Waltz in A flat major op.34 no.1 CHOPIN: Mazurka in A minor, op. 59 no. 1 CHOPIN: Mazurka in A flat major, op.59 no.2 CHOPIN: Barcarolle, op.60 POULENC: Les Soirées de Nazelles RAVEL: Une barque sur l’océan (from Miroirs) LISZT: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171 LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.11 in D-flat major, ‘Harmonies du soir’ LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.10 in F minor, ‘Appassionata’
Saturday, 20th July 19:30	St David’s Cathedral St David’s, UK	Programme TBA conductor: Islwyn Evans baritone: Bryn Terfel harp: Hannah Stone choir: Côr Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion
Monday, 29th July 19:30	Holy Name Church Fishguard, UK	BEETHOVEN: Six Variations on a Theme in F major, op.34 SCHUMANN: Davidsbündlertänze, op.6 LISZT: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171 CHOPIN: Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, op.47 CHOPIN: 3 Mazurkas CHOPIN: Scherzo no.2, op.31
Friday, 9th August 11:00	The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, UK	GRIEG: Lyric Pieces, selection WAGNER/LISZT: Fantasy on Themes from Rienzi WAGNER/LISZT: Spinning Chorus from Flying Dutchman WAGNER/LISZT: Entry of the Guests from Tannhäuser WAGNER/LISZT: Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde WAGNER: Sonata for the book of Mrs.M.W.
Saturday, 7th September 19:30	Holy Cross Church Cowbridge, UK	BEETHOVEN: Six Variations on a Theme in F major, op.34 SCHUMANN: Davidsbündlertänze, op.6 LISZT: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171 CHOPIN: Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, op.47 CHOPIN: Mazurka in G sharp minor, op.33 no.1 CHOPIN: Mazurka in C-sharp minor, op.30 no.4 CHOPIN: Mazurka in C minor, op.56 no.3 CHOPIN: Scherzo no.2, op.31
Saturday, 21st September 19:30	Restoration House Rochester, UK	MOZART: Piano Sonata no.6 in D major, K.284 BEETHOVEN: Andante Favori, WoO 57 SCHUBERT: 16 German Dances D.783 (without Écossaises) SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in C major, D.840 HAYDN: Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob XVI:52
Friday, 11th October 19:30	Pontio Bangor, UK	CHOPIN: Waltz in A flat major op.34 no.1 CHOPIN: Mazurka in A minor, op. 59 no. 1 CHOPIN: Mazurka in A flat major, op.59 no.2 CHOPIN: Mazurka in F-sharp minor, op.59 no.3 CHOPIN: Barcarolle, op.60 POULENC: Les Soirées de Nazelles RAVEL: Jeux d’eau RAVEL: Une barque sur l’océan (from Miroirs) LISZT: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171 LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.11 in D-flat major, ‘Harmonies du soir’ LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.10 in F minor, ‘Appassionata’
Thursday, 31st October 19:30	Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Cardiff, UK	SCHUMANN: Papillons, op.2 JANÁČEK: On an Overgrown Path BRITTEN: Holiday Diary, op.5 LISZT: Concert Étude in D-flat major, S.144 No.3, ‘Un Sospiro’ LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.3, in F major, ‘Paysage’ LISZT: Concert Étude in D-flat major, S.145 No.1, ‘Waldesrauschen’ LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.11 in D-flat major, ‘Harmonies du soir’ LISZT: Transcendental Étude S.139 No.10 in F minor, ‘Appassionata’
Thursday, 7th November Time TBA	Small Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory Moscow, Russia	BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.1, in F minor, op.2 no.1 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.3, in C major, op.2 no.3 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.2, in A major, op.2 no.2 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.23, in F minor, op.57 ‘Appassionata’
Sunday, 10th November 15:00	Perth Concert Hall Perth, UK	BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.1, in F minor, op.2 no.1 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.3, in C major, op.2 no.3 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.2, in A major, op.2 no.2 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.23, in F minor, op.57 ‘Appassionata’
Tuesday, 17th December 19:00	Small Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, Russia	BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.12, in A flat major, op.26 ‘Funeral March’ BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.9, in E major, op.14 no.1 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.10, in G major, op.14 no.2 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.13, in E flat major, op.27 no.1 ‘Quasi una Fantasia’ BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.14, in C sharp minor, op.27 no.2 ‘Moonlight’
Wednesday, 18th December Time TBA	Small Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory Moscow, Russia	BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.12, in A flat major, op.26 ‘Funeral March’ BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.9, in E major, op.14 no.1 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.10, in G major, op.14 no.2 BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.13, in E flat major, op.27 no.1 ‘Quasi una Fantasia’ BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata no.14, in C sharp minor, op.27 no.2 ‘Moonlight’