William Fergusson combines classical elegance, cinematic grandeur, and occasional avant-garde flourishes to create his distinctive sound. Known for his spellbinding stage presence and adventurous compositions, the Norwich based artist has made a career out of subverting expectations and continually challenging his audiences. Now, with the release of his most compelling material to date, he is on the brink of reaching a national audience.
William has spent the past decade releasing music at a feverish pace. His projects include original piano compositions, eclectic indie records, and holiday albums. He is a prolific collaborator as well, having worked with punk group Puppets to the Supreme Commander, folk-singer Noel Dashwood, and classical collective Archaos Trio Ensemble just to name a few. He has performed the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Stravinsky at countless piano recitals and performed original material at festivals in the UK. And while his output is unusually diverse, his restless experimentation and fearless approach provide a common thread.
“I describe myself as a medium,” he says, explaining his inspiration. “That’s how I’ve always functioned.” This approach has served him well. He has made a career out of finding beauty in unexpected places, creating an intricate yet highly approachable body of work. As he enters a new phase of his career, he is as curious as ever, always revealing new sides of his artistry with every release.
“It’s about finding the essence - I see things that are connected but also their distinctions,” he goes on, “I see everything as having art in it.
C.V.
Wormscrubs, London 1976 to a punk rocker dad and media mum.
Grade 8
Goldsmiths
UEA
Composition course with Sally Beamish, 2018, Britten Piers School
Moved to Hackney above a vacuum cleaner shop with some singers, then ran out of health and returned home. Was dressed in drag and quite drunk and this chap took one of my manuscript books (for reference I thought) but there were opportunities, this girl, Rebecca Bar.
Writing the music for two children’s operetta. musicians for MadderMarket Theatre 2006
Various Choral Jobs: UEA Choir, Wennistone Girls Choir, Halesworth Festival Chorus, Stowmarket Choral
Theatre Royal playing for Schools Project 2002-2012
Big Steve Arlene: Greenote London, Betsy Trotwood, Clarkenwell, Bunday Three Tuns, Red Rooster 2021, Holt 2021
Kontakete Stockhausen piece of music for piano and electronics, Simon Limbrick
Party band Knobs & Knockers, with Barbar Gough, Voewood, Holt.
Cubana Salsa Band
Curly Blows it Dry Jive Band
Puppets to the Supreme Commander (punk)
Archaos Trio Ensemble (classical)
Noel Dashwood album (folk)
Piano album (classical)
One Month Albums X 3 (Indie, eclectic original)
New album - piano based album (classical)
Christmas Album, piano and cello - 12 pieces,12 Days
Hostry: Two performances of Lady Macbeth, La Voie Humane 2019 & Holt Festival
Local recitals such as the Holt Fringe Festival
Annual recital Strode UEA
Beethoven’s 10th: festival commission
Belfry Arts Centre over Strand 2020 - Freedom, piano. Wrote. Record.
Mark Cator photographer, Great Yarmouth, sound and visual. For our Love of War Exhibition, 2018
The Creative Voice, album and book project (experimental).
William Drew Batty - concerts, Will Power
Friday Afternoons Project, Aldbrough, choral for young singers, four years
Mysterious Yoghurt Stuart Pearson Wright, party band
Recitals: Rise (Bach, Tavaner, Ruuti) and (Stravinsky, Beethoven, A major Sonata, Opus 1.10) Peter Mancroft. 2020, 2021
Norwich Arts Centre gigs: 2017, 3, school concert, eclectic, High Tea Klavier Hour, Last Trumpet Sessions, visual projection and original, classical movements, set pieces, Beatles. review. First Snowflake, mix of artists: Polly Wright, Stuart, Nelly Rodriguez (clarinet), Ivan McCready (cello), Steve Pulford, Steve Arlene, Barbar Gough Elton John.
Eclectica with Archaos, Gonzo’s Nightclub
Two Piano Concerto performances 2017, Mozart D minor (Aylesham Church, Ensemble East Anglia. 2018 Shuman Piano Concerto A minor.
Belfry Beethovern Sequence, entire Sonantos. Beethoven Sonata Cycle. Belfry Arts Centre, Commission. 2019, 2020
Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Production of Dining with Alice, 2014
Organist for Britten’s Burning Fiery Furnace, South Repps Festival, Tom Primrose, 2017
Brahms Requiem, St Andrew’s Hall with William Folkner.
And more recitals than I can think of.