| Laura Evans-Williams | |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1883 |
| Birth Place: | Henllan, Denbighshire |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Occupation: | Singer |
| Spouse: | R.T. Williams |
| Children: | 2 |
Laura Evans-Williams (7 September 1883 – 5 October 1944) was a Welsh soprano singer.
Laura Evans was born in Henllan, Denbighshire in the north-east Wales and was the eldest child of a castrator (1901 census), John Evans, and his wife Ellen Evans. Her sister was the director Eleanor Evans. Evans-Williams was educated at Howell's School, Denbigh and later the Royal Academy of Music where she studied under the guidance of Edward Iles who helped to develop her voice.[1]
She started her career as a contralto singer and won prizes at several eisteddfodau. She performed in the 1911 edition of The Proms in the event's 28th day. Evans-Williams also performed operatic arias and Welsh folk-songs, and toured extensively with fellow contralto singer Clara Butt during World War I.[2]
In 1910, Evans-Williams was featured as soloist in Edward Elgar's Caractacus in London, with Merlin Morgan conducting.[3]
Evans-Williams had been invited to give the performance of the National Eisteddfod's traditional chairing song at the 1917 event held in Birkenhead, but she sang I Blas Gogerddan when it was announced the winner of the chair, Ellis Evans (Hedd Wyn), had been killed in battle. Evans-Williams had already lost her beloved brother, Stanley at Ypres in 1916 and would lose her elder brother, Hugh George at Peronne in 1918.[4] She sang the chairing song when the Eisteddfod moved to Wrexham sixteen years later, and received an encore.
Evans-Williams undertook a concert tour of the United States in 1925–1926.[5] She was the first Welsh artist to broadcast from Savoy Hill.
Laura Evans-Williams moved back to Colwyn Bay in 1940 after living in London and taught singing until she died on 5 October 1944. Evans-Williams was survived by her two children - Mair and Tudor; she was buried at Henllan. Her husband R.T. Williams, a London draper, originally from Henllan has died in 1916, aged 42 years [1]