News

Bassist Avery Sharpe is releasing a recording 400: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICAL PORTRAIT which evokes the pain, hope, and triumph of the African American experience across four centuries. Among the music guests appearing on the album is fellow Williams faculty member Tendai Muparutsa, playing djembe. There are also two Williams students contributing their talents: violinists Kevin

Professor Ileana Perez Velazquez celebrated the world premiere of Tu, Paz Mia, a work commissioned by GRAMMY®-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire, a professional chorus based in Florida. William Jaume, Class of 1977, and member of the Seraphic Fire Board of Directors was first introduced to Prof. Perez Velazquez in 2017. Inspired by her work, a

Brad Wells is the 2019 recipient of the Korn Founders Award. Named after one of the founders of Chorus America, this award was established in 1978 to honor an individual with a lifetime of significant contributions to the professional choral art. Brad Wells is the founder and director of Roomful of Teeth, a Grammy-winning eight-voice

W. Anthony Sheppard, Marylin & Arthur Levitt Professor of Music, has been named the 2019 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Susan McClary and Robert Walser Fellow in Music Studies for his project entitled The Performer’s Voice: Timbre and Expression in Twentieth-Century Vocal Music. The American Council of Learned Societies is proud to announce the

Artist in Residence in Violin Joanna Kurkowicz was a guest on the Bennington, Vermont radio station WBTN. Some of her latest recordings were presented on the program Listening Shires. Joanna also talked about her recordings, projects, teaching, students, and violin methods. To Listen: 1) go to http://wbtnam.us/imlogger/index.php 2) download: 8am and 9am  

Three chamber groups, a trio comprising Lucca Delcompare ’20, Megalan Tso ‘22, and Jake Eisner ’21, a trio consisting of Anna Strong Garcia ‘22, Helene Ryu ‘22, and Dalton Yu ’22, and duo pianists Qiana Yang ’19 and Dalton Yu ’22, were selected to take part in the third annual Intercollegiate Chamber Music Festival in New York

The Williams College Department of Music is delighted to announce the results of the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition for 2019! Sebastian Black ‘19, piano Bob Logan, collaborating pianist performing Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) Totentanz   Angela Chan ‘19, pipa Dalton Yu ’22, collaborating pianist performing 草原小姐妹 (Little Sisters of the Grassland) 吴祖强 (Wu Zuqiang) (b. 1927) 王燕樵

Brad Wells and Roomful of Teeth are making headlines again, along with Judd Greenstein ’01, this time in The New Yorker… Onward and Upward with the Arts February 11, 2019 Roomful of Teeth Is Revolutionizing Choral Music From death metal to throat singing to alpine yodelling, the experimental group is changing what it means to

I/O Fest 2019 – Thursday January 10 – Sunday January 13   Read what the Berkshire Eagle has to say about I/O

Avery Sharpe,  Artist Associate in Jazz Bass, and Co-Director of Small Jazz Ensembles and Kris Allen, the Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence in Jazz Activities/Lecturer in Music, Director of the Jazz Ensemble have release their new video performed live in Studio 275 in the Sawyer Library. The saxophone/bass duo perform The Planet Whisperer, by Avery Sharpe.

The Williams College Department of Music is delighted to announce the results of the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition for 2018! The panel has selected: Benjamin Mygatt ‘20, violin Robert Logan, collaborating pianist playing Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) – Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, op. 99 – Burlesque: Allegro con brio   Calvin Ludwig ‘18, flute

Professor of music W. Anthony Sheppard recently invited two guest musicians, Suzanne Vega, an American singer-songwriter, and Gerry Leonard, an Irish lead guitarist who has worked extensively with David Bowie, to his “History of Rock” class. more

The Williams College Department of Music is delighted to announce the results of the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition for 2017! The panel has selected: Anna DeLoi ’18, harp Reinhold Glière – Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in Eb Major, op. 74 – Allegro moderato Joyce Lee ’17, piano Camille Saint-Saens – Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op.

W. Anthony Sheppard has been named Series Editor for the prestigious AMS Studies in Music book series published by Oxford University Press. Sheppard’s 5-year term as Series Editor begins immediately. AMS Studies in Music publishes outstanding and innovative musicological scholarship drawn from the widest possible range of perspectives and areas of inquiry that will appeal to

On November 5th at the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society in Vancouver, Canada, W. Anthony Sheppard received the H. Colin Slim Award for his article “Puccini and the Music Boxes,” which appeared in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association in spring 2015. The H. Colin Slim Award honors each year a musicological

Musical Celebration of Life to Honor Scott Smedinghoff ’09 A “Musical Celebration of the Life of Scott Smedinghoff” will be held at the Old First Congregational Church in Old Bennington, VT, on Saturday, June 11, at 3:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Under the direction of guest organist Edwin Lawrence,

Wang Leehom, a music major from the Class of ’98, received the honorary degree Doctor of Music from the College on June 5th. On June 4th, Leehom appeared at the 62 Center in a conversation with his former teachers Andy Jaffe and W. Anthony Sheppard. Congratulations Leehom! Wang is a Chinese-American singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, and film