News

In this brief video, Professor of Music W. Anthony Sheppard sets the stage with an overview of Indian music

Professor M. Jennifer Bloxam has been named Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Music. This appointment is in recognition of continued excellent service to students, to department, and to the college. Herbert H. Lehman was a member of the Class of 1899, Governor and Senator of New York, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Williams

Oscar winner Kristen Anderson-Lopez ’94 and her husband/writing partner Robert Lopez joined Professor W. Anthony Sheppard to discuss and perform their song Let It Go and other music of the Disney blockbuster Frozen as part of Williams Alumni Weekend, June 2014. watch

The Williams College Department of Music will offer Individual Instrumental Instruction courses (MUS 281-288) in both SITAR and TABLA starting in Fall 2014. More information The Department of Music welcomes Artist Associate Veena Chandra, a renowned sitarist and teacher, and Artist Associate Devesh Chandra, a virtuosic tabla player, to our faculty.  Veena and Devesh Chandra

Announcing the Williams College Department of Music’s new Chinese Music student ensemble! Come to the Department’s Open House in September for more information. The Department of Music will also offer Individual Instrumental Instruction courses (MUS 281-288) in Erhu, Yangqin, Zheng, Liuqin/Pipa, and Zhongruan starting in Fall 2014. More information The Department of Music welcomes Artist

If you couldn’t make it to our April 9 event featuring composer John Harbison, you can now enjoy a video recording of the entire evening. Harbison, together with a panel of the poets who inspired him, and music department Chair W. Anthony Sheppard discuss the process of setting poetry to music. The panel is composed

In this video, Professor Sheppard investigates how the musical, poetic, and cinematic elements work together to create the powerful impact of “Let It Go” in the Oscar-winning movie Frozen.  The song was written by Williams College alum Kristen Anderson-Lopez and her husband Robert Lopez and received the Academy Award for Best Song.

Winners of the annual Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition were announced late on the evening of February 18, 2014 following the deliberation of the judges presiding over a competition involving 14 Williams College music students. In a three hour program open to the public, listeners were treated to some of the best that Williams has

W. Anthony Sheppard, Department Chair and Editor of JAMS, recently delivered a TEDx talk based on his research entitled “Pop Orientalism: Tin Pan Alley to Taiwan Today.” In this talk, he considers musical representations of East Asians and of Asian music from the late nineteenth century to 2013, touching on examples from minstrelsy, to Katy

Mezzo soprano Vivien Shotwell ’03 is best known to our audiences at Williams as a singer, of course, but she is also receiving positive literary reviews. Her first novel, Vienna Nocturne, about an English soprano who falls in love with Mozart, is forthcoming this month from Ballantine Books and Doubleday Canada. Vivien appeared with us

Congratulations to Brad Wells and his vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, who won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. He and the group won the award at the 56th Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast Ceremony, where they also performed and were nominated in two other categories. Brad Wells, the Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence in

Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence in Vocal Studies/ Director of Choral Activities Brad Wells’ self-titled debut album of his vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth has been nominated in three categories for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards! *Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance *Best Engineered Classical Album –Mark Donahue & Jesse Lewis, engineers *Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Professor of Music and Department Chair W. Anthony Sheppard recently began his term as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Musicological Society. JAMS, published by the University of California Press, is the flagship journal for musical scholarship and has over 5,000 subscribers worldwide. In the 66-year history of the Journal, Prof. Sheppard is the

M. Jennifer Bloxam, Professor Music at Williams College, has been named a 2013-14 Fellow in Sacred Music, Worship, and the Arts at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.  Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music is an interdisciplinary graduate center educating leaders who foster, explore, and study engagement with the sacred through music, worship, and the arts

To the Williams Community, I am saddened to report the death of Robert Suderburg, Class of 1924 Professor of Music, Emeritus. Bob was already a well known pianist, composer, teacher, and administrator before joining our music department in 1985. He had most recently served as president of the Cornish Institute in Seattle and before that

“Roomful of Teeth” is a professional vocal ensemble under the direction of Brad Wells, who also directs choral activities at Williams. The New York Times recently featured one of his musicians, Caroline Shaw. She is a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music for a piece she composed for the group. More

Winners of the annual Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition were announced late on the evening of February 12, 2013 following the deliberation of the judges presiding over a competition involving 17 Williams College music students. In a three hour program open to the public, listeners were treated to some of the best that Williams has