News

This morning Williams students, faculty, and staff received this message from President Maud Mandel informing the community that as a precaution classes spring break is beginning a week early on Friday March 13. As of April 6, students will be working from off campus remotely. Unless circumstances prove otherwise, this means that all music department

The Friday March 13 concert of the Berkshire Symphony has been canceled.

We regret the cancellation of the visit by Sara Davis Buechner.

The Williams College Department of Music is delighted to announce the results of the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition for 2020! Rebecca Christainsen ’21, viola Dalton Yu ’22, collaborating pianist performing Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945) – Concerto for Viola and Orchestra   Christopher Chung ’22, violin Dalton Yu ’22, collaborating pianist performing Henri Vieuxtemps (1820 –

The latest album by Prof. Zachary Wadsworth, When There is Peace, has been nominated by the JUNO Awards in Canada. It is one of five finalists for Classical album of the year: vocal or choral. The JUNO Awards are Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy awards in the United States. Commissioned and premiered by Chor Leoni, When

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 W. Anthony Sheppard, the Marylin & Arthur Levitt Professor of Music, has been selected as Williams College’s next John Hyde Teaching Fellow.  This post is awarded to senior members of the faculty to recognize their dedication to excellence in teaching and to honor the foundation upon which Williams is built—a liberal arts teaching college

MFA Kera and Mike Russell, two musicians from the Berlin-based group Black Heritage, bring their music and life experiences of performing blackness. There is a series of events on October 16 and October 17, 2020 in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall and other venues on campus starting. Among the events are open classes, a master voice class,

Prof. Zachary Wadsworth just released a new album. Click here for more information. The album is currently streaming on Spotify and Apple Music, and can be purchased through iTunes, and other services. Commissioned and premiered by Chor Leoni, When There Is Peace marks the first work for the choir by Zachary Wadsworth. Premiered on the 100th anniversary of

Professor W. Anthony Sheppard’s new book Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination has been published by Oxford University Press.  Click here for a full description of the book including reviews. t

Soprano Erin Nafziger, and baritone Paul La Rosa, Artist Associates in Voice, appeared recently in the opera The Weeping Woman by Michael Dilthey. Click here to enjoy.

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