Huw Watkins

Huw Watkins is a prominent figure in British music in the triple, and mutually supportive roles of pianist, composer and teacher.

Born in south Wales, he studied at Chetham's School of Music, King's College Cambridge with Robin Holloway and Alexander Goehr and with Julian Anderson at the Royal College of Music, where he now teaches composition and piano.

As a pianist, he performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber music - often in partnership with his elder brother, the cellist Paul Watkins, and with the violinists Alexandra Wood and Alina Ibragimova. He has premiered concertos by John Woolrich and Michael Zev Gordon.

His recent compositions include a Piano Trio for the Florestan Trio and a Violin Concerto for Alina Ibragimova which was premiered at the 2010 BBC Proms by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner. He is currently writing an opera for a joint production between Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera. A portrait CD of chamber music will be released by NMC in the spring.