Derek Williams

About Derek Williams

Alongside my career as an educator, I have been self-employed variously as composer, conductor, musical director and record producer for a range of international clients, including The University of Edinburgh and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, EMI Music, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Caroline O'Connor, Sir Robert Helpmann, Sir Howard Morrison. My work has featured in performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Royal Albert Hall and Garrick Theatre (London), Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Hamer Hall (Australia), the Australian Embassy (New York), Sala Accademica di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Edinburgh University.

I have been orchestrator, associate composer and musician with IMDb credits for 27 feature films, television documentaries, mini series, with 33 Discogs recording credits and have been a frequent conductor of studio orchestras, including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the feature film Frauds. Many of the media to which I have contributed have themselves achieved critical and popular acclaim, including BAFTA Award (The Making of Longbird), Best Film Score (Crush), an Oscar (The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert), Triple Platinum record sales (Come In Spinner - ABC) and an Australian Aria Award nomination (Cash Landing – EMI Music).

Stars in films I have orchestrated include Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Phil Collins, Josephine Byrnes, Lee Majors, Jack Scalia, Bob Peck, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp. I worked with Torvill & Dean as arranger and pianist for their album Here We Stand. I have performed extensively as keyboardist, including over 400 performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber's show Cats (Really Useful Theatre Company) and Phantom of the Opera (Cameron Mackintosh Limited), and as musical director for independent productions.

My more recent commissions have been to arrange, conduct, mix and master the vocal and orchestral music for the Glenfiddich 21yo Whisky ad campaign, so far reaching 1.7 million hits, the making of which is viewable on my YouTube channel below, and to score the music for Ruaridh M Turner's multi award winning short thriller, 'The Beast in the Storm'. My current commissions are to compose a new 4 movement symphony for The Orchestra of the Canongait in Scotland, and a new trio for the Hindemith Trio in Parma, Italy.

I have the digital technology necessary to work in-house in my private studio at Edinburgh, as well as with live ensembles of any size as Arranger, Conductor or Producer. Testimonials in all these fields are available on request.

Services available are listed on my website.