Another exciting young musician has just joined the galaxy of young Rising Stars in SOMM’s NEW HORIZONS series. Pianist Cordelia Williams who was the Piano Winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2006, at the age of 17 and last year won the Concours International de Piano in Aix-en-Provence. With this special series which is nearing its tenth anniversary, SOMM aims to provide young musicians of great talent with the opportunity of promoting their careers worldwide in top quality recordings. They are chosen from the cream of interpreters of the new generation on their way to international recognition.

Cordelia who started playing the piano at the age of three had always wanted to be a pianist. ‘There was never a time when I didn’t think I would be a professional pianist’, she says. ‘ I never questioned it. I could see people were moved when I played and it felt very natural.’ She chose to read theology at Cambridge because she believes music shouldn’t be insular, that other experiences and knowledge are important and enrich you as a person and as a musician.

Other than Schubert, Cordelia loves Ravel, Schumann and Messiaen as favourite composers but when it came to her recording debut, there was only one true contender: The Somm disc will introduce the world to Williams’s passion for Schubert, featuring her take on the composer’s eight Impromptus. Schubert really speaks to me, not only on an intellectual and emotional level, but on a higher, more spiritual level. Ever since I was very young, I have been absolutely in love with his music.’

Cordelia’s formidable CV includes concerto appearances with the CBSO, City of London Sinfonia and Northern Sinfonia with, among others, Jan Pascal Tortelier, Thomas Zehetmair and John Wilson and recitals in London, Salzburg, Provence, Thailand, Beijing, Kenya, US and the Gulf States.