Biography
Active as composer, pianist, teacher and artistic director, Nathan Williamson has established a reputation as one of the UK’s most versatile and individual young artists.
His compositions encompass a huge variety of styles and genres – including works for non-western instruments – yet always reveal a clear, individual artistic voice. With growing attention from performers and festivals worldwide, Nathan is in consistent demand for new works. As solo pianist and chamber musician he performs a wide variety of repertoire, including his own music, and has worked with some of the most sought-after artists of his generation.
Nathan’s first opera, A Fountain Sealed (in progress) was performed as a work in progress at the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Opera Festival in August last year, supported by funds from the Presser Music Foundation. The work takes as its subject the current split in the church over some relationships, and is being developed towards full production in 2008/9. Rupert Christiansen of The Daily Telegraph reviewed the performance, saying ‘People don’t write opera like this any more, and perhaps they should’.
In 2007 Gestures, a new commission for cellist Charles Watt, was premiered at the Purcell Room in January with the composer at the piano. A solo violin work, Homecoming, commissioned by Piotr Szewczyk, continues to be performed at venues and festivals across the US, including Spoleto, Santa Fe and the 'Inside the Music' series. Nathan also collaborated with Sarangi and Tabla players Aruna Narayan and Hanif Khan and ensemble ENDYMION on a project to combine Western and Indian instruments. The resulting work, Natipur, toured the UK in May, supported by SPNM and the Asian Music Circuit.
In 2000 Nathan was commissioned to co-compose a work for Luciano Berio’s project L’arte della Fuga, receiving performances in five European countries. In 2001 A Sniff of the Real Me was commissioned for the first Chacombe Music Festival and House of Music was commissioned by the ‘Music Works’ String Orchestra. In 2003, the performance of three new works - Solitude, Static and Endings - in the US and Canada led to commissions for a String Quartet - 2005 for the TinAlley Quartet and a major orchestral work, As Chants Would Have It (2006) for the Daejeon Philharmonic and Tuscaloosa Symphony.
The coming two years will see a host of new works, including for the Yale Schola Cantorum, the highly acclaimed NOW ensemble of New York, the ensemble 'Made in Canada', a concert version of the Cabaret Songs from Auden/Isherwood’s The Ascent of F6 and the completion and full production of A Fountain Sealed.
Nathan’s work as a pianist, described as ‘Superbly musical and technically masterly,’ (Bryce Morrison) has involved collaborations with artists including Nadia Wijzenbeek, Akiko Ono, Marie Macleod, Charles Watt, and the Allegri String Quartet and appearances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Concert Hall, Bolzano Festival, Purcell Room, St John’s Smith’s Square, Holywell Music Room, Palais du Residence, Brussels, Atrium du Magne, Paris, the Jardin de Secrets series in Aix-en-Provence and many other venues.
In 2001 he was the solo pianist with the European Union Youth Orchestra, performing Stravinsky’s Petrouchka under conductor Paavo Järvi and chamber music recitals with the orchestra’s principal string and wind players across Europe. In 1997, aged just 18, he established a reputation as an outstanding exponent of new music, performing with the London Chamber Group in 14 performances of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse at the Battersea Arts Centre.
Nathan has been Artistic Director of the Chacombe Music Festival since 2005. Set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside in the early summer, the festival combines vocal and instrumental repertoire, featuring some of the UK’s finest young singers and chamber groups. A week-long residency for the festival performers – with professional rehearsal space, full board and several performance opportunities – is now established. Recent beneficiaries of the residency include the highly acclaimed Lendvai String Trio and Rhodes Piano Trio.
Born in Cambridge in 1978, Nathan is currently based in London. He studied composition with Malcolm Singer and piano Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Ezra Laderman and Martin Bresnick at Yale University, where he won several major prizes and was awarded a one-year teaching fellowship upon graduating. In 2008 Nathan will complete his Doctorate in composition at Oxford University, where he has been working with Robert Saxton.
His compositions encompass a huge variety of styles and genres – including works for non-western instruments – yet always reveal a clear, individual artistic voice. With growing attention from performers and festivals worldwide, Nathan is in consistent demand for new works. As solo pianist and chamber musician he performs a wide variety of repertoire, including his own music, and has worked with some of the most sought-after artists of his generation.
Nathan’s first opera, A Fountain Sealed (in progress) was performed as a work in progress at the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Opera Festival in August last year, supported by funds from the Presser Music Foundation. The work takes as its subject the current split in the church over some relationships, and is being developed towards full production in 2008/9. Rupert Christiansen of The Daily Telegraph reviewed the performance, saying ‘People don’t write opera like this any more, and perhaps they should’.
In 2007 Gestures, a new commission for cellist Charles Watt, was premiered at the Purcell Room in January with the composer at the piano. A solo violin work, Homecoming, commissioned by Piotr Szewczyk, continues to be performed at venues and festivals across the US, including Spoleto, Santa Fe and the 'Inside the Music' series. Nathan also collaborated with Sarangi and Tabla players Aruna Narayan and Hanif Khan and ensemble ENDYMION on a project to combine Western and Indian instruments. The resulting work, Natipur, toured the UK in May, supported by SPNM and the Asian Music Circuit.
In 2000 Nathan was commissioned to co-compose a work for Luciano Berio’s project L’arte della Fuga, receiving performances in five European countries. In 2001 A Sniff of the Real Me was commissioned for the first Chacombe Music Festival and House of Music was commissioned by the ‘Music Works’ String Orchestra. In 2003, the performance of three new works - Solitude, Static and Endings - in the US and Canada led to commissions for a String Quartet - 2005 for the TinAlley Quartet and a major orchestral work, As Chants Would Have It (2006) for the Daejeon Philharmonic and Tuscaloosa Symphony.
The coming two years will see a host of new works, including for the Yale Schola Cantorum, the highly acclaimed NOW ensemble of New York, the ensemble 'Made in Canada', a concert version of the Cabaret Songs from Auden/Isherwood’s The Ascent of F6 and the completion and full production of A Fountain Sealed.
Nathan’s work as a pianist, described as ‘Superbly musical and technically masterly,’ (Bryce Morrison) has involved collaborations with artists including Nadia Wijzenbeek, Akiko Ono, Marie Macleod, Charles Watt, and the Allegri String Quartet and appearances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Concert Hall, Bolzano Festival, Purcell Room, St John’s Smith’s Square, Holywell Music Room, Palais du Residence, Brussels, Atrium du Magne, Paris, the Jardin de Secrets series in Aix-en-Provence and many other venues.
In 2001 he was the solo pianist with the European Union Youth Orchestra, performing Stravinsky’s Petrouchka under conductor Paavo Järvi and chamber music recitals with the orchestra’s principal string and wind players across Europe. In 1997, aged just 18, he established a reputation as an outstanding exponent of new music, performing with the London Chamber Group in 14 performances of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse at the Battersea Arts Centre.
Nathan has been Artistic Director of the Chacombe Music Festival since 2005. Set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside in the early summer, the festival combines vocal and instrumental repertoire, featuring some of the UK’s finest young singers and chamber groups. A week-long residency for the festival performers – with professional rehearsal space, full board and several performance opportunities – is now established. Recent beneficiaries of the residency include the highly acclaimed Lendvai String Trio and Rhodes Piano Trio.
Born in Cambridge in 1978, Nathan is currently based in London. He studied composition with Malcolm Singer and piano Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Ezra Laderman and Martin Bresnick at Yale University, where he won several major prizes and was awarded a one-year teaching fellowship upon graduating. In 2008 Nathan will complete his Doctorate in composition at Oxford University, where he has been working with Robert Saxton.