Composers and Authors

Adrian Williams

Described by Yehudi Menuhin as a “master of intricate patterns and forms,” Adrian Williams was born in Hertfordshire and showed precocious talent at the piano as a young child. He began composing at the age of eleven, his early promise resulting in consultations with Lennox Berkeley, followed by composition and piano studies at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Bernard Stevens, Alan Ridout and John Lill. During his RCM studies, Williams received recognition for his first mature orchestral work, the gritty and ambitious Symphonic Studies, an achievement acknowledged by the RCM director Sir David Willcocks, who conducted the work with the RCM orchestra. His final year at the College was marked by two accolades: a Leverhulme scholarship and the coveted Menuhin Prize for Composition.

The years that followed saw a period as Composer in Residence at Charterhouse School, during which his music underwent a stylistic reassessment. The outcome was a tougher harmonic language that, although more adventurous in its range and scope, retained an underlying melodic vein that has always remained central to his music. Several important works were to emerge from this period, including the Second String Quartet, a remarkable uninterrupted span of thirty-eight minutes, and, in 1982, the intricately orchestrated symphonic poem, Tess.

A move to the Welsh Borders in 1982 saw Williams find his spiritual home, along with the peace of mind and creative impetus for many of his most vital works. Amongst them is the piece spawned by his winning the Guinness Prize for Composition in 1985, the cantata after Louis MacNeice, Not Yet Born, Images of a Mind for cello and piano, the cantata after Alun Lewis, The Ways of Going and Dies Irae, the latter a BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra commission that, in its power of expression, recalls the Sinfonia da Requiem of Britten, a composer who remains one of Williams’ most significant influences.

The multi-faceted, even eclectic nature of Adrian Williams’ music has also seen him forge a successful career in music for film and television, a field he continues to be active in, whilst his absorption of influences as diverse as English song and elements of jazz and minimalism has seen his catalogue of major works grow to demonstrate a richly compelling creative voice. Ever searching for new creative horizons, Williams’ recent scores, including Maelienydd (2008) for Chamber Orchestra and the String Quartet no 4, premièred to acclaim at the 2009 Presteigne Festival, exhibit a deeply felt emotional core, conjuring the atmosphere and wild, open spaces of the composer’s Welsh Borderland surroundings with a renewed sense of wonder and mystery.

Further information about Adrian Williams can be found on his Web site.

		Work	Grade	Vocal range	Duration	Published	Price
		Quatre Cantilènes, Set II for ’cello and piano			8¾ mins	2002	£9.00
		Forces: ’Cello, Piano
		Red Kite Flying for voice and piano	7	C to C''	3 mins	7th June 2023	£7.45
		Forces: Voice, Piano
		Soliloquy for Piano	Advanced (post-Grade 8)		6 mins	1st August 2023	£9.95
		Forces: Piano
		Three Piano Pieces for Eugene	6		4½ mins	12th November 2023	£9.95
		Forces: Piano