This is a past event
Composer and songwriter Gareth Williams creates opera, music theatre, and song that transforms existing texts and stories into new musical works. His practice is rooted in adaptation and collaboration, working with writers, artists, and participants to develop pieces that are often deeply personal, whilst taking their roots from stories and ideas that are firmly embedded in the public consciousness.
Williams’ work often draws from literature, history, and lived experience. Songs from the Last Page reimagines the final lines of novels as songs, exploring the connection between literature and music, while Breath Cycle II transformed the experiences of people with respiratory conditions into participatory song and opera. His process seeks to “seduce” words into song—discovering the musicality within text and shaping it into something new.
In this event, Williams will discuss his creative approach, the challenges of adaptation, and how collaboration brings fresh perspectives to musical storytelling.
Gareth Williams is a composer and songwriter whose work in opera, music theatre, and song explores new collaborations, participants, and audiences. His site-responsive stage works have been performed in lighthouses, distilleries, and libraries, and he has created award-winning music for Scottish Opera, Tapestry Opera, National Theatre of Scotland, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and more. As Scottish Opera’s inaugural Composer in Residence (2011–2014), he developed Breath Cycle, an opera for cystic fibrosis patients, later expanding the project to support those with Long Covid and Aphasia. His chamber opera Rocking Horse Winner won five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and The 306 Trilogy at National Theatre of Scotland (with Oliver Emanuel) was a major UK commemoration of WW1 between 2016 and 2018. His ongoing project Songs from the Last Page transforms the final lines of novels into songs, bridging literature and music in performances and recordings. His 2024 musical A History of Paper (with Oliver Emanuel) was premiered at the Traverse Theatre, winning the award for Best Musical Theatre work, and a Fringe First Award for new writing.
- Speaker
- Gareth Williams
- Venue
- MacRobert Building, MR055
- Contact
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Please contact Dr Christina Ballico (Christina.Ballico@abdn.ac.uk) if you wish to join the event via Teams.