William Marsey is a UK-based composer. His music has been described as vivid, unsettling, distinctive and strangely touching.
William’s music has been commissioned and performed internationally, including by the LA Phil and BBC Arts, with performances by Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Hallé, and Thomas Adès. His work has also been heard in galleries, theatres, and site-specific settings, often in collaboration with artists, choreographers, and filmmakers. Collaborators include photographer Torbjørn Rødland, director Antonia Luxem, film composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and artist Anna Ridler.
Recordings of William’s music appear on his own albums, and on releases from Oliver Zeffman’s Music x Museums, Solem Quartet, Delphian Records, and The Hallé.
William was born in Hartlepool and studied composition at the University of Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was nominated for a British Composer Award in 2018 and an Ivor Novello Composers Award in 2023.
William recently featured on This Classical Life, Radio 3, available on BBC Sounds. He is also showing a unique, generative soundtrack, which changes week to week as part of Cicadian Bloom at Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea, open until 22 March 2026.
William will present the US premiere of Man with Limp Wrist at LA Phil on 6-8 February 2026, followed by a presentation in Oslo, with Norwegian Radio Orchestra, cond. Finnegan Downie-Dear on 9 September 2026.
William will also share a full concert of his piano works at 1901 Arts Club, with Joseph Havlat on 9 June 2026, and a concert of his songs with Shadwell Opera in Summer 2026.