John McLaughlin Williams

John McLaughlin Williams (born 1957) is a Grammy award-winning American orchestral conductor and violinist.
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
2010 Grammy Nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance 2010 Grammy.com Classical Nominees
2010 Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) 2010 Grammy.com Classical Nominees
2008 Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
2007 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
2006 Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
Discography
As a conductor:
Deon Nielsen Price : Yellow Jade Banquet and other Orchestral Works
Ernest Bloch ; Violin Concerto, Benjamin Lees: Violin Concerto (2008 Grammy Nominee)
Nicolas Flagello : Missa Sinfonico, Arnold Rosner: Symphony No.5 Missa sine Cantoribus super Salve Regina
Olivier Messiaen : Oiseaux Exotiques (2007 Grammy Winner)
Nicolas Flagello : Violin Concerto / Orchestral Excerpts from the Operas / Orchestral Songs
John Alden Carpenter : Adventures in a Perambulator / Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
Nicolas Flagello : Piano Concerto No. 1 / Dante's Farewell / Concerto Sinfonico
Henry Kimball Hadley: Symphony No. 4 / The Ocean / The Culprit Fay
George Frederick McKay : From a Moonlit Ceremony / Harbor Narrative
George Frederick McKay : Violin Concerto / Sinfonietta No. 4 / Song Over the Great Plains
Quincy Porter : Viola Concerto (2010 Grammy Nominee)
Corentin Boissier : Glamour Concerto / Philip Marlowe Concerto
As a violinist:
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor : Chamber Music; Nonet, Fantasiestucke, Five Negro Melodies for Piano Trio
Chevalier de Saint-Georges : Six String Quartets
References
External links
Ann Arbor.Com 6/13/10 Feature Article
Detroit Free Press 2/20/09 John McLaughlin Williams is a conductor...
Arts Management Services
Seeing Black: The Other Grammy Winner
TNC Recordings Featured Article Cleveland Chamber Symphony: Music That Dares To Explore, Vol. 6
The Carolina Peacemaker Featured Article
Conductor info on the Naxos website.
Living people
1957 births
Grammy Award winners
American male conductors (music)
African-American classical musicians
Concertmasters
DC Youth Orchestra Program alumni
Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni
New England Conservatory alumni
Cleveland Institute of Music alumni
21st-century American conductors (music)
21st-century classical violinists
21st-century American male musicians
Male classical violinists
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people
21st-century American violinists