Huw Williams is the Director of Music at Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace where he directs the professional choir of men and boys. At the Chapel Royal his predecessors include Tallis, Byrd, Purcell and Handel. An experienced performer and recording artist, he has made over 20 recordings as accompanist with The Sixteen and with St Paul’s and Hereford Cathedrals Choirs and broadcast live on television and radio as both director and accompanist. As well as the Chapel Royal he directs Cantemus Chamber Choir and Stroud Choral Society and teaches at Eton College. In the past few years he has directed Bach’s B minor mass, St Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Requiems by Verdi, Brahms and Mozart, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and Britten’s St Nicolas. He has also directed on tours to Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, radio broadcasts, commissions by John Rutter and Giles Swayne and festival appearances at St David’s Cathedral and Tintern Abbey. In 2015 he has directed two recordings—one for Cantemus on the Regent Label and one for Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal on the Signum Record label.

Huw has worked extensively in the UK, USA, Africa and in Europe as a conductor, organ soloist and accompanist. He has been invited to direct masterclasses, adjudicate at music competitions and Eisteddfodau and is an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examiner. He has performed with many British orchestras including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, BBC Welsh Symphony, the London Mozart Players and the City of London Sinfonia. Recent performances include the opening concert on the new Mander Organ presented to The Queen by the City of London, Bath Abbey and Lagos Cathedral, Nigeria.

Born in Swansea, a graduate from Christ’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music he became Assistant Organist at Hereford Cathedral in 1995. In 1998 he moved to St Paul’s Cathedral where for ten years, as the principal organist, he played for all the major recordings and broadcasts and worked daily with the world famous choir. Whilst at St Paul’s he featured in a documentary on S4C, the Welsh television channel and many of his compositions were performed at the cathedral. In 2008 he became Director of Music at the Church of the Redeemer, near Philadelphia. One of his solo organ recordings received Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice award. In recognition of his work in the musical world he was awarded the Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2001 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.