S i w a n R h y s
pianist
Welsh pianist Siwan Rhys enjoys a varied career of solo, chamber, and ensemble work with a strong focus on contemporary music and collaboration with composers and other artists. Her playing is renowned for its multifacted virtuosity, unerring rhythmic precision, and for its rich palette of timbral control while pushing the limits of the piano's dynamic capabilities - from her Barbara Monk Feldman solo recordings ("luminous, gorgeous piano sound... a beautiful vulnerability" - Gillian Moore, BBC R3 Record Review) to her performances of Ustvolskaya's piano works ("singular, stupendous, percussive works, superbly played" - Fiona Maddocks, The Observer).
Her explorations of the extremes of her instrument's potential have also led to a specialism in inside-piano techniques and prepared piano, with many notable performances and recordings including her own transcriptions of Aphex Twin, Thomas Larcher's virtuosic Ouroboros with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Sarah Lianne Lewis' RPS-Award-winning letting the light in.
Her recordings include solo piano music by Barbara Monk Feldman, Ryoko Akama, James Weeks, and Mira Calix/John Cage, and chamber music by Lisa Illean, Oliver Leith, Alex Paxton, Stockhausen, Cassandra Miller, Eva-Maria Houben, Lawrence Dunn, and Steve Reich, featuring on labels such as NMC, Platoon, HCR, all that dust, Nonesuch, and Another Timbre.
Her work has taken her to venues including all the major London concert halls, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Tokyo Opera City, Shanghai Symphony Hall, and Esplanade Singapore. She has appeared at the BBC Proms, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, MaerzMusik Berlin, Darmstadt Festival, Warsaw Autumn and many others.
With percussionist George Barton, she makes up one half of award-winning piano-percussion duo GBSR Duo. She is also a member of new music groups Explore Ensemble and the Colin Currie Group, and works regularly with other ensembles including London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra, and Riot Ensemble.
In 2012, Siwan was made an honorary member of the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards.