With a number of world and state premieres lined up, violist Justin Williams is hitting the ground running as a composer. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Principal Viola has a quickly-growing body of work to his name and there’s more to come.

Williams will perform in the world premiere of his work Three Pieces for String Quartet and Voice at Blackheath Chamber Music Festival on 23 April. His First Symphony also gets a world premiere with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and several Williams works will be given their South Australian debuts in the 2023 Coriole Music Festival.

Justin Williams

Justin Williams. Photo © C Brewster.

Ahead of his Blackheath premiere, the Williams talks to Limelight about his new work, his first foray into vocal writing, and what makes him keep coming back to  Blackheath Chamber Music Festival.

This will be your second appearance at BCMF. What has your experience of the festival been?

In fact, it’s my third! I performed at the first two with Tinalley String Quartet, performing a wide variety of works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Ravel; contemporary works by Lior, Nigel...