[2] He was the first Australian pianist to record the complete series of 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven.
[1][5] He received a scholarship from the Brabant Conservatorium, but the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 caused his parents, fearful of a domino effect, to migrate to Australia when he was 12, in 1958.
He won the Queen Victoria Piano Competition,[8] and later studied under Greville Rothon (assistant to Claudio Arrau) in Munich.
In 1996, former television producer Brendan Ward persuaded Willems to record Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas.
He toured Israel and held the Hephzibah Menuhin Chair in Piano as visiting professor at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.
Marcel and Louise with Judy Willems and Clara Doroty Eleonore Frey-Willems with Eva Frey.
In 2001 Willems was named the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Music Scholar by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust.