WILLiam Howard's love song project
William Howard's Love Song Project explores the theme of love in romantic and contemporary piano music.
The Love Song Project began with the release of William's album of romantic songs without words, Sixteen Love Songs, in June 2016. This inspired the launch of an international Love Songs Composing Competition in collaboration with composer Judith Weir, in which entrants have written their own contemporary response to the love song genre. The competition attracted over 500 entries from 61 countries. The project continued with a commissioning programme in which William invited leading composers from the UK and abroad to write love songs for solo piano. Contributors include Judith Weir, Master of the Queen's Music, Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry and leading American composer Nico Muhly. The two winning pieces from the competition and 14 pieces that William has commissioned have now been recorded and released on a new album Sixteen Contemporary Love Songs on Orchid Classics.
William Howard,“a thoughtful and poetic player” (Sunday Times), is one of Britain’s leading pianists, enjoying a career that has taken him to over forty different countries. As soloist and founder member of the Schubert Ensemble, he has performed regularly at major venues and festivals in the UK and has made over forty CD recordings. A lover of romantic piano repertoire, he has also collaborated with over a hundred composers and has commissioned new works throughout his professional career.
Events coming soon
7.30pm
St Mary's Church, Hay-on-Wye (Hay Festival)
Four Contemporary Love Songs (Howard Skempton, Judith Weir, Nico Muhly, Pavel Zemek Novák), Three Liszt Love Song Arrangements (Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann), works by Mendelssohn and Chopin, and Howard Skempton 24 Preludes and Fugues (world premiere)