Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence in Vocal Studies/ Director of Choral Activities Brad Wells’ vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth has been again nominated for a 2016 GRAMMY Award. Their sophomore album, Render, is up for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Mr. Wells said: “We’re supremely honored to be nominated for a second… Continue reading »
Professor Ileana Perez Velazquez has been awarded a 2015 commission by the prestigious Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. The Fromm Music Foundation was founded by the late Paul Fromm in 1952. Since 1972, it has been located at Harvard University where it has operated in partnership with… Continue reading »
Linking Brahms and Whitman On Nov. 15, 2015 the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed a composition by assistant professor of music Zachary Wadsworth at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The piece is an introduction to Brahms’ meditation on mortality, Ein deutsches… Continue reading »
Chapin Hall reopened on Friday, October 23, 2015 in grand style. To a packed house the Berkshire Symphony rechristened the 103 year old venue after months of renovation. Much has changed in the concert hall: beautifully painted and trimmed ceiling and walls, improved seating, ramped access to the stage, an attractive and… Continue reading »
Prof. Ileana Perez Velazquez will have her latest work, an original score for violin, cello, percussion, voices, and electronics, featured in “Blood Wedding,” presented by the department of theatre at Williams. “Blood Wedding” was written by Federico García Lorca and is directed by Kameron Steele. The play runs October 15 –… Continue reading »
On May 9, 2015 the Williams Percussion Ensemble presented John Luther Adams’s expansive and elemental Strange and Sacred Noise, a 70-minute immersion in the deep resonance of drums, gongs, marimbas, and sirens, performed around the reflecting pool of the newly redesigned central campus of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. Continue reading »
The end of the academic year brings serious contemplation of weighty matters: Should I go to grad school? Will that job come through? Will I make it? One project has captured student imaginations and has released some pressure—and a plague of puns! As part of the campus-wide “Ephs on Parade,” music majors have… Continue reading »
Prof. Sheppard’s “Puccini and the Music Boxes” has been published in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association. The publisher selected the article to be available “free access” worldwide until February 2016. Click for free access… Continue reading »
Starting Fall 2015, no student enrolled in music lesson courses at Williams will be charged anything beyond the College’s comprehensive fee. All students taking these courses will now receive a full subsidy so that their fee will be $0. With this major policy change Williams College has made even clearer its… Continue reading »
Faculty host Ronald Feldman and a panel of judges have announced the winners of the 2015 Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition. In a three hour program open to the public, listeners were spoiled for choice as 15 of some of Williams finest student musicians took to the stage… Continue reading »
Jason Howland, a music major of the Class of 1993, has been honored with a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Jessie Mueller, principal soloist; Jason Howland, Steve Sidwell & Billy Jay Stein, producers (Carole King, composer &… Continue reading »
In this brief video, Professor of Music W. Anthony Sheppard sets the stage with an overview of Indian music Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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. Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »
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… Continue reading »