John McLaughlin Williams

Last updated
John McLaughlin Williams
Born1957 (age 6667)
North Carolina, U.S.
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Conductor, performer
InstrumentViolin

John McLaughlin Williams (born 1957) is a Grammy award-winning American orchestral conductor and violinist. [1]

Contents

Williams, who is of African American heritage, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. [2] He attended the Boston University School of Music, the New England Conservatory and is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music. His violin studies were with Dorothy DeLay, conducting with Carl Topilow and composition with Donald Erb and Margaret Brouwer.

He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Novaya Russiya, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Classic FM Symphony Orchestra (Sofia), the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and many other ensembles. He has recorded several CDs for the Naxos Records label, all in their American Classics series, where he has shown a remarkable ability to uncover lost gems by American composers of the first half of the 20th century (such as Henry Hadley and John Alden Carpenter), and bring them vividly to life with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. The resurgence of interest in western American composer George Frederick McKay (1899-1970) can be attributed to William's pioneering Naxos recordings of McKay's music. He was awarded a Grammy in 2007 for his recording of Olivier Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques , in which he conducted the Cleveland Chamber Symphony with pianist Angelin Chang, who also received a Grammy. Williams has received a total of four Grammy nominations. Williams has also served as assistant conductor of the Britt Festival in Oregon. As a violinist, he has appeared as a soloist around the United States and was an active freelancer in the Boston area, where he was assistant concertmaster of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and played as a substitute with the Boston Symphony. Williams was also a member of the Houston Symphony, and was concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony.

Awards and recognitions

Discography

As a conductor:

As a violinist:

Related Research Articles

References

  1. 1 2 "Category 96". GRAMMY.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  2. https://africlassical.blogspot.com/2009/09/maestro-john-mclaughlin-williams-4.html
  3. "Field 30 — Classical". GRAMMY.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.