Williamson is a man who quietly, meticulously, does his own thing. A colourist and sculptor at the keyboard. A composer. An imaginer of projects steering wide of the obvious. (Ates Orga)
Composer and pianist Nathan Williamson studied at Guildhall, Oxford and Yale, where he also held a prestigious fellowship.
Recent works include The Quest (London Youth Opera, 2024 – nominated for an Ivor Award), Quartet Black (Aldeburgh Festival 2023, Heath Quartet) and two virtuosic song-cycles for voice and piano – The Little that was Once a Man (James Gilchrist, 2019) and Grey and Green are all my Light (Jonathan Eyers, 2023) – both widely performed with the composer at the piano.
Other recent commissions include Crystal for piano quartet (Rossetti Ensemble, 2021), Cello Sonata (Charles Watt, Alwyn Music Festival 2019, premiered with the composer), and works for NOW Ensemble, violinist Piotr Szewczyk and the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, which have been widely performed across the USA. Nathan is also involved in a range of amateur music-making and outreach projects in his hometown of Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, where he founded and directs the Southwold Music Trust, which seeks to make music a central part of the local community.
Recent performing highlights include 100 Years of British Song, a three-CD project for SOMM Recordings with tenor James Gilchrist; the complete Beethoven Concertos with the Prometheus Orchestra; recording Sonatas and Nocturnes by Malcolm Lipkin for Lyrita; the premiere of Christopher Brown’s 24 Preludes and Fugues; and international tours with the new music ensemble Piano Circus, who serve as Associate Artists at Brunel University, London.
In 2021 Nathan founded The Art of British Song, a new organisation which seeks to celebrate and showcase British song, its legacy and its future, through performances, recordings, and development of new music. They have subsequently presented recitals of British song at venues including Snape Maltings, the Alwyn Music Festival, The English Music Festival and Surrey University, as part of a special symposium devoted to British song.
Recordings of Nathan’s music have been released on SOMM, New Amsterdam, and Navona Records. His first solo piano CD for SOMM Recordings, Great American Sonatas (2017), was hailed by Musical Opinion as ‘a landmark in recordings of American piano music’. Colour and Light (2019), featuring British 20th century piano repertoire, was chosen as Album of the Month in International Piano Quarterly.
Nathan lives in the town of Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, where he founded and directs the Southwold Music Trust, seeking to make music a central part of the local community through education, music-making with musicians of all abilities, and concerts in local venues. He is married to Daisy, senior music therapist at Suffolk Music Therapy Services, and together with their two young children they love nothing more than heading straight out onto the beaches and beautiful countryside which surround their home.
