Award winning composer and Pianist Michael Csányi-Wills has written works ranging from Chamber music to Choral and Orchestral works to film scores. He was composer in residence with the Welsh Sinfonia from September 2013-2016 and his recent orchestral works have been widely performed throughout the UK and commissions have taken him around Europe, Australia, China, and the USA where in 2016 his Violin concerto was premiered in the Constella Arts Festival, by violinist Tatiana Berman with principal conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Jose Luis Gomez.
Recent works include 2 song cycles “The Long Lost Songs” and “12 Songs On Horizons Far” (funded by the Arts Council/National Lottery), his second symphony written over lockdown in 2020, and a third song cycle set to words by Pushkin called “Songs in times of Pandemic” written for Soprano Ilona Domnich and violinist Charles Mutter. Also released in 2019, “Nocturne for Yodit” was written for Martin Anderson of Toccata Classics, recorded by the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra and conducted by Paul Mann.
Michael’s 1st Symphony was performed by Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra in November 2019. The recording made in February 2020 will be re-released with “Seagull Nebula” for Chamber Orchestra, and “The Last Letter” arranged for Cello and Orchestra, recorded by Steffan Morris (Principal Cello of the Northern Sinfonia) and the CUSO in July 2021.
Michael’s most performed work “The Last Letter” originally for Soprano and Piano, was recorded in 2023 by Trombonist Emily White and Pianist Sam Haywood for Deux-Elles records due for release in 2024.
Michael’s Orchestral Songs disk, featuring Nicky Spence, Jacques Imbrailo and Ilona Domnich, was released 2015 to critical acclaim, and was ‘recording of the month’ at Music Web International.
Michael has also written scores for over 40 films including documentaries such as “The King of Nerac” and “Maestro” a feature documentary feature about conductor Paavo Järvi and most recently a feature drama such “Sideshow” starring Les Dennis and Anthony head which will have a theatrical release in March 2022. He won BEST SCORE at the Movie Maverick Awards, for his score to the short film “A love story in Milk” and was nominated at the World Soundtrack awards for Best Newcomer. His latest commercial success comes in the form of Meta Quest and Aardman’s “The Grand Getaway, a Wallace and Gromit VR game released in December 2023.
As a pianist, Michael still performs and records regularly, having recorded the complete Weinberg Violin Sonatas with Russian Violinist Yuri Kalnits all released by Toccata Classics to critical acclaim. Volumes 1 & 2 won a “Diapason d”Or” in the French Magazine “Diapason”. In 2021, Volume 3 was nominated for a much coveted ICMA award, and Volume 4 was released in 2022. His latest project is an album of his own Clarinet and Piano music with Principal of the WNO clarinetist Thomas Verity, due for release in 2024 by Rubicon Classics. Also due for a release in 2024, Michael performed Pine Winds with violinist Tatiana Berman by Steve Goss for Deux-Elles Records.
Appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2012, and as Head of Keyboard and Composition at the World Heart Beat Music Academy in London, Michael is passionate about music education. Many of his students have been awarded scholarships to major music colleges in the UK.
He is also associate conductor the BBC Ariel Orchestra, and of the World Heart Beat Music Academy Orchestra.