In the news
World premiere, canberra symphony orchestra
12 September 2024, National Museum of Australia
“The final work, Light Visions (2024), by Natalie Williams, was a world premiere and a new CSO commission. Light reflects off almost every known surface. Over the 10 or so minutes, almost every sparkling image was put into music.
Light in nature and its concept, like a painting of light, the three movements beautifully represented the sensation of light through its tonal body into our ears. It left a lasting impression. Williams, who spoke before her work, took to the stage again along with Lim and Reyk to take a well-deserved round of applause.”
Rob Kennedy, City News, 13 Sep 2024
AWARDS
Finalist in the 2021 Art Music Awards (2021)
“Black Summer: an Homage to Australia’s Bushfire History” for string quartet and silent film, was nominated as a finalist at the 2021 Art Music Awards, hosted by the Australian Music Centre and APRA/AMCOS. Premiered in Adelaide by the Australian String Quartet in 2021, this bold new 22” work in five movements chronicled major bushfire events from Australia’s history. This piece combines footage, imagery, newspaper stories and contemporary poetry that explores the impact of fire events upon the natural world. Each movement highlights a time and place in history, chronicling the many visages of wildfire that the Australian landscape has endured. Footage and imagery was assembled from the National Film and Sound Archives and the National Library in Canberra, newspaper articles and poetry written by bushfire survivors. This project was supported by funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.
https://www.apraamcos.com.au/about/supporting-the-industry/awards/art-music-awards-2022#_284023
Winner of the Sue W Chamber Music Composition Prize (2019-2020)
Natalie Williams is the winner of the 2019-2020 Sue W Chamber Music Composition Prize. The Sydney Conservatorium announced that amongst a very high standard of entries, the judging panel remarked that Dr. Williams “submitted two extremely strong pieces for strings that were of a very high standard. The first piece demonstrated very idiomatic cello and piano writing, and a capability for both lyrical writing and rhythmically complex driving ideas. The second piece was very cleverly constructed and kept the tension going for the duration. There is a clear sense of structure, a confident voice, and a professionalism present in these two works.”
ABC Fresh Start Awards (2020)
Supporting Australian music composition in 2020, ABC Classic commissions new works for radio broadcast. Natalie will write new music for leading Australian chamber ensembles, The Muses Trio (QLD) for “Fire Dances” a new piece depicting the 2020 Australian bushfires, and Ensemble Liaison (VIC) for “Treppenwitz” a chamber piece depicting a fictional evening conversation. Both new works will be recorded in late 2020 by ABC Classic.
Winner of the Albert H Maggs Award in Composition (2018)
Natalie Williams has won the 2018 Albert H Maggs Composition Award for her work Saudade (2015) for string octet. The Maggs Award is provided as a commission for the creation of a new musical work of a substantial nature. The judging panel commented, 'Saudade, by Natalie Williams, is a major work for string octet of convincing voice and energy. Right from the arresting opening, the work shows strong harmonic and rhythmic control over engaging material. It is finely crafted for string octet, a combination that Williams beautifully brings to life. The panel looks forward to hearing the new work that she will write as part of the Albert H Maggs commission.'
https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/2018-maggs-award-to-natalie-williams
Conference director, Women in the Creative Arts (2017)
An international research conference highlighting the work of women creative artists was directed by Dr. Natalie Williams at the Australian National University’s School of Music in August 2017. Delegates from across the globe presented research papers and seminars on the work of women composers. The conference featured a recital of music by contemporary women, performed by The Muses Piano Trio. The event supported and exposed the work of creative women in a changing sector, revealing their career paths and creative journeys within industry and academia.
https://music.cass.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/women-creative-arts
Australia’s Female Composers are Having a Moment (The Guardian, Rosalind Appleby, 27 July 2017)
Instrumental Work of the Year (2016)
Natalie’s string octet Saudade (2015) wins the Australian Capital Territory instrumental work of the year at the Australian Music Centre, Art Music Awards in Sydney. The work was commissioned by Musica Viva Australia and premiered in 2015 in Sydney for the Musica Viva Festival, by the Pavel Hass Quartet (Czech Republic) and Doric String Quartet (UK).
https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/award/art-music-awards-work-of-the-year-instrumental
Berkeley Symphony EarShot New Music Readings (2015)
Les Chants du Maldoror, a suite for chamber orchestra composed by Natalie in 2011 was performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, California, on 3 May 2015, conducted by Joana Carniero. Les Chants du Maldoror is a reaction piece to a series of four etchings by Salvador Dali. Dali’s etchings were created for the 1934 publication of the surrealist text originally written in 1869 by Isidore Ducasse. The American Composer’s Orchestra team interviewed the EarShot four composers involved.
MEDIA coverage
“Williams has a spectacularly evolved gift for tapping into a universally shared pathos that speaks to an audience, even on a single hearing, with profundity and depth. Natalie Williams has duly written a deeply poignant, thought provoking, and richly expressive work.”
“From its first few notes, the beauty of this work hits the listener... almost untouchable, this airy and delicate music grew in depth through shade, colour and dynamic.”
“The world premiere of Natalie Williams’ The Dreaming Land was an effortlessly elegant reimagining of the sonata form as a delicately hued musical landscape.”
“…a beautiful work, shimmering with atmosphere and colour, played extremely well by the orchestra”
(Canberra Critics Circle, 2017)
"Natalie Williams' work the highlight... bristling with harmonic and rhythmic complexity"
"Williams' music is beautiful, and it ranges from lyrical and pastoral settings... through to intensity and animosity... Williams' score was a joy to listen to."
"Headlines, story, music and archival footage combine into a dramatic, almost filmic, experience"
Photos
PROMOTIONAL PHOTOS
Photo credit: Megagraphics Photography, Melbourne ©