Nathan Williamson has established a reputation as one of the UK’s most individual and versatile young artists, now in consistent demand as both composer and pianist. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Joan Havill and Malcolm Singer, where he received double-first honours in piano and composition, and later at Yale University with Ezra Laderman, Martin Bresnick and Aaron Jay Kernis, where he won several major prizes and was awarded a teaching fellowship upon graduating. In 2005 he began a doctorate in composition at Oxford University under the guidance of Robert Saxton.

2010 will see new works for cellist Charles Watt for the 10th Chacombe Music Festival, a String Quartet for the highly acclaimed Barbirolli String Quartet, and in June this year the production of the Prologue and Act I of Nathan’s first opera, A Fountain Sealed, being developed towards full production in 2011/12. A collaboration with the writer Thomas Walton, the work broaches the conflicts between human emotions, private faith and public image surrounding relationships within the contemporary Church.

Other recent works include Call to Prayer, a commission for Bury St Edmunds Cathedral, Piece and Quiet for the Chamber Music 2000 project at the Purcell Room, Music for piano trio, performed by Anna Harpham, Anna Menzies and Renana Gutman at the Menuhin Hall and Crystal, a new commission for the launch of the Southwold Concert Series, performed by Arisa Fujita, Max Baillie and Matthijs Broersma with the composer. The Cabaret Songs from Auden/Isherwood’s The Ascent of F6 were premiered in Paris by soprano Emilie Bregeon and pianist Jean-Paul Pruna in 2008.

In 2007 violinist Piotr Szewczyk commissioned Homecoming which continues to be performed at venues across the US including the Santa Fe and Spoleto Festivals, as well as on a tour of Germany. Also that year, cellist Charles Watt performed Gestures at the Purcell Room and in Normandy with the composer at the piano, and Natipur, a collaboration with Sarangi and Tabla players Aruna Narayan and Hanif Khan and ensemble Endymion, was heard at LSO St Luke’s, The Gate, Cardiff and Turner Sims Concert Hall at Southampton University.

In 2005 Nathan was awarded a residency at the Deer Valley Festival, for which he composed a String Quartet for the TinAlley Quartet. Shortly afterwards his first major orchestral work, As Chants Would Have It..., was commissioned by the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra of Korea and Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Shink Hahm.

Future plans include a piece for the highly acclaimed NOW ensemble of New York, works for cellist Sasho Somov, violinist David Chivers (for his debut CD), a new piano trio, and the completion and production of A Fountain Sealed.

Described as ‘Superbly musical and technically masterly’ (Bryce Morrison), Nathan’s work as a pianist has led to performances at some of Europe’s most prestigious venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Concert Hall, Bolzano Festival, Purcell Room, St John’s Smith’s Square, St Martin’s in the Fields, Palais du Residence Brussels, Atrium du Magne Paris, and many other venues and festivals across the UK. Nathan has collaborated with some of the leading artists of his generation, including Arisa Fujita, Nadia Wijzenbeek, Tom Hankey, Max Baillie, Marie Macleod, Charles Watt, Tim Gibbs, Emilie Brégeon, and the Allegri and Sacconi Quartets, regularly performing his own works alongside other repertoire. Forthcoming recitals include performances with Akiko Ono, Ylvali Zilliacus, Sasho Somov, the Carducci Quartet, as well as recitals combining South African folk music and Western repertoire and coaching young singers in Durban with baritone Njabulo Madlala.

In 1998 Nathan was a finalist in BBC Young Musicians and winner of both the Concerto and Solo prizes at the Oxford Festival in 2000. In 2001 he was the pianist with EUYO, performing Stravinsky’s Petrouchka under conductor Paavo Järvi in some of Europe’s most prestigious venues, also giving chamber recitals with the orchestra’s principal string and wind players. In 1997, aged just 18, he performed with the London Chamber Group’s in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies‘ The Lighthouse at the Battersea Arts Centre conducted by Harry Curtis.

In 2008 Nathan founded a new concert series in the town of Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, where he now lives. He has been Artistic Director of the Chacombe Music festival since 2006 and teaches at the Yehudi Menuhin School.