Naxxar | Malta
Tricia Dawn Williams |
Maltese pianist, born in Malta, of Irish and Welsh descent, Tricia Dawn Williams is committed to contemporary music, multimedia and new technologies. Her concerts transform the piano recital into an interdisciplinary performance featuring video-art, electronic music and extended piano technique. Williams is one of the first concert pianists to collaborate with developers and composers internationally on the application of motion-capture technology. She uses the MYO band interface on her forearms to manipulate and trigger electronic music in real time during her concerts. As a dedicated promoter of new music, Williams has commissioned, premiered and recorded numerous works.
Williams’ international performances include: Les Invalides (Paris, France), Béla Bartόk Memorial House (Budapest, Hungary), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf, Germany), The Royal Danish Theatre (Copenhagen, Denmark), Den Jyske Opera (Aarhus, Denmark), Arena New Music Festival (Riga, Latvia), European Capital of Culture (Pafos, Cyprus), Festival International de Carthage (Tunis, Tunisia), John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts (Washington DC, USA), Cape Town Festival (Cape Town, South Africa), Riverside Theatre (Sydney, Australia), ppIANISSIMO Festival (Sofia, Bulgaria), De Doelen (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Meervart Musiktheater in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), the International Izmir Festival (Izmir, Turkey) and the Emilia Romagna Festival (Italy).
In May 2019 Williams’ project TRANSITion was one of the 11 projects chosen out of 200 applicants worldwide by Classical:Next. Classical:NEXT was born out of the simple idea to bring the diverse scenes of classical music together and offer them a forum to exchange and develop new ways for classical and contemporary music.
In March 2020, Williams started exploring the toy piano repertoire and connected with several composers worldwide. During this year she recorded several toy piano pieces. This also led to various online performances in 2020 featuring this instrument, mainly Classical Next (Germany), Porto Pianofest (Portugal) and the Three Palaces Festival (Malta). She was also featured in Black Dress Code digital concert library. In October 2022 she performed and recorded Ruben Zahra’s ‘Kinderklavier Concerto’ with the Brno Contemporary Orchestra which is released on major digital music platforms.
Williams is the proud owner of 9 toy pianos, 4 of which are vintage and she is endorsed by the Schoenhut Toy Piano company.
Williams began studying the piano at a very early age with Rita Micallef and was further mentored on 20th century music by Pawlu Grech. In 2010 Williams was appointed secretary of the ‘Malta Association for Contemporary Music’ committed to establish new heights in its goal to promote the performance and understanding of contemporary music.