Graham Williams - Associate Composer

Graham Williams studied viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and studied composition privately with Richard Rodney Bennett. He is artistic director of Music Past & Present. and also teaches composition at the Royal Academy of Music. His works have been performed by many of Britain's best soloists and ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, Nicholas Daniel, Marais Ensemble, Brindisi String Quartet, City of London Sinfonia, Leopold String Trio, Brunel Ensemble and Lontano. Further afield, his works have been performed by the Vestjysk Kammerensemble (Denmark), Esterhazy Singers and Orchestra and at Henze's Montepulciano Festival.

In 2000 he was a featured composer at the Presteigne Festival which saw the premiere of his festival commission Newton/Bronze for viola and strings. In 2001 the Solaris String Quartet gave the first performance of String Quartet No 3 at the Purcell Room and in 2004 the Artea String Quartet gave the first of many performances of String Quartet No 4. The Artea and Pavao Quartets together premiered his Elegy for String Octet at the Purcell Room in 2003.  Notes from a time past for flute, viola and piano was dedicated to Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and premiered at a special birthday concert organised for Sir Richard by Music Past & Present in 2006. In 2007 he was awarded the William Mathias Composition Prize for his work Within the Garden of Memory. New works in 2007 include Three Night Pictures for Thomas Gould and John Reid and Preludes for solo piano for Junko Kobayashi.

Graham Williams is artistic director for the Music Past & Present series, a non-profit organisation set up to encourage new audiences to listen to contemporary music. "We did not want to intimidate our audiences by presenting them with music beyond their experience. Our name reflects our approach - performances of music from the classical and romantic eras to the present day."

"Confident, colourful writing." Daily Telegraph
"Very enjoyable to listen to." Evening Times
"Written with wit and imagination." The Times

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