Llyr Williams

“...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, Llyr 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 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.
2009/10 Season 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. Throughout 2010 Llyr Williams performed a Beethoven sonata cycle around the UK which received universal praise; after the last three Sonatas in Cardiff Rian Evans in The Guardian wrote: ‘his commanding technique, cool grasp of the vast intellectual span of the music and sense of wisdom beyond his years make for a stunning combination’. September 2010 saw the release of his latest CD by Signum Classics featuring Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, Estampes by Debussy and works by Franz Liszt. 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.
Williams has a great love of lieder which leads him to take part in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition on a regular basis and this summer he will accompany Bryn Terfel at the Verbier Festival, where he will also be playing chamber music and giving a recital.