Derek Leslie Williams (born 20 September 1952) is a Scottish resident composer, orchestrator, conductor and record producer. He has 33 recording credits, and 27 film, documentary and television series credits. He was awarded a doctorate by the University of Edinburgh under Nigel Osborne and Peter Nelson for composition of his opera, Wilde, and he is a Fellow of Trinity College London. Williams is a civil rights activist also known for his 'Save Sibelius' campaign in the United Kingdom (2012–2013). Since 2007, he has taught Composition and Orchestration at University of Edinburgh Music Department. He is also Chair of the Wagner Society of Scotland, a member of the International Association of Wagner Societies.

Career
Williams first came to public notice in 1974, when he founded the New Zealand School of Music through which he established the first non-university tertiary level qualification for conductors of music in the Southern Hemisphere. As arranger, orchestrator, conductor and musician commissioned by international artists Caroline O'Connor, Sir Robert Helpmann, Torvill and Dean, Grace Knight, Frank Bennett, Debbie Newsome, Sir Howard Morrison, and prominent Australian screen composers Martin Armiger, Guy Gross, and Antony Partos, Williams is also known for his reorchestrations of tracks from hit records. His commissions have been performed in the Royal Albert Hall, Garrick Theatre and Kings Place (London), at the Sydney Opera House and Hamer Hall, Melbourne, Australia, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival. As a chorister, he performed in the 640 voice Third International Choral Festival at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts under Robert Shaw with Peter Godfrey's Auckland University Festival Choir, as well as at The White House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations and at Westminster Abbey and King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

Williams was the orchestrator and conductor of the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra for Guy Gross's score for Stephan Elliott's Frauds, starring Phil Collins and Hugo Weaving, and was choral and instrumental arranger of Gross’s score for Elliott’s Oscar winning film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He was the orchestrator and conductor for Martin Armiger's score for The Crossing, starring Russell Crowe, and was orchestrator for Antony Partos' score for Crush, winner of Best Film Score at New Zealand Film and TV Awards. Williams was arranger and conductor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation multi-platinum album Vince Jones & Grace Knight – Come In Spinner from the ABC miniseries Come In Spinner for record producer Martin Armiger, which won the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. He was producer, arranger and conductor for Frank Bennett's EMI Music album Cash Landing, nominated at ARIA Music Awards of 1999 for Best Adult Contemporary Album. He was composer for Ruaridh M. Turner's The Beast in the Storm, which won Order of Merit in the Indie Fest and Best Action/Thriller/SciFi – Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards. In 2021 he was conductor of the Linlithgow String Orchestra and Abbotsford String Orchestra.

Biography

Born 1952 of Agnes ('Nancy') Williams (née Anderson) of Bathgate, Scotland (office clerk) and New Zealander Edward ('Ted') Williams (farmer). Early childhood in Gisborne, New Zealand and Rotorua, studied at Rosmini College (Auckland) 1964–1970. Studied Music 1971–74 at University of Auckland under Charles Nalden, winning the Professor Hollinrake Memorial Scholarship and Senior Scholarship Award as BMus graduate. Studied piano with Mary Nathan, Milford. Admitted Fellow of Trinity College, London in 1977.

Descended from Henry Williams (missionary) and Marianne Coldham, Williams' grandfather, Claud Williams, MC was a noted explorer of the Libyan Egyptian desert during World War 1 who was awarded the Military Cross for his Report on the Military Geography of the North-Western Desert of Egypt (War Office Handbook), used by the Long Range Desert Group in the Tobruk campaign against Rommel. In 2010, the Royal Geographical Society co-opted Williams as family representative for its publication of Claud's autobiographical memoir, Light Car Patrols 1916–19, and he was guest speaker at the 2013 book launch.

New Zealand

International choral tour

World tour as a chorister with the 40-voice Auckland University Festival Choir, conducted by Professor Peter Godfrey, CBE, a Kings College, Cambridge alumnus and founder of the New Zealand Choral Federation and the Symphonia of Auckland. During the 3rd International Choral Festival, at the United Nations, the choir participated in a massed chorus of 16 international choirs conducted by Willi Gohl, followed by a concert of 640 voices on 30 April 1972 at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts New York under Robert Shaw. During the US tour, the choir also performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at a White House reception with the First Lady, Pat Nixon, on the eve of the breaking of the Watergate scandal. In the United Kingdom, the Festival Choir performed at Westminster Abbey and at Kings College, Cambridge in a joint concert with King's College Choir with Sir David Willcocks. They were met by composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears for their performance at the Snape Maltings and the choir won praise for its performances in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore. The choir continues to hold decennial reunions, and there has been a CD re-release of its LP, recorded straight after the world tour.

New Zealand School of Music

In 1974, Williams founded and until 1978 was governing director of the New Zealand School of Music Ltd under the patronage of Lord Mayor of Auckland, Sir Dove-Myer Robinson and with the conductor of the Symphonia of Auckland, Maestro Juan Matteucci OBE he established the first non-university tertiary level qualification for conductors of music in the Southern Hemisphere, followed by a similar course for percussionists.

Aloha

In 1981 Williams was orchestrator and musical director for the world première and cast album of Eaton Magoon Jr and Sir Robert Helpmann's Hawaiian musical Aloha, starring Derek Metzger and directed by Robert Young for Hamilton Operatic Society. Aloha received favourable reviews, with the New Zealand Herald reporting, "Derek Williams' orchestra helps to make the evening a success," and a cast recording produced by Carl Doy was made of the show.  The world premiere was followed in 1985 by a Michael Edgley revival production at His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland, directed by Joe Layton, also starring Metzger and Hollywood actress Patricia Morison, with Williams continuing as production arranger and musical director.

During his tenure as teacher in charge of Music at Rotorua Boys' High School from 1979–1985, Williams was also keyboards player for Sir Howard Morrison. In 1984, Williams was seconded from teaching to work as a computer programmer of educational applications for New Zealand schools on the Poly-1 that allowed New Zealand educators to design and deliver curricula on class computer networks.

Australia

From 1985, Williams was musical director and keyboards player for productions at Australia's Wonderland, Phillip Street Theatre, Glen Street Theatre and Sydney Theatre Restaurants Ltd and from 1985–1988 he was orchestrator for the Australian Singing Competition, initially at the Sydney Opera House. He was also a keyboards player for over 400 performances of Cats for Cameron Mackintosh at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, the longest running show in Australian history, and for its 1994 revival by the Really Useful Group at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney. Following the success of ABC's Come In Spinner TV miniseries and platinum spin-off album Vince & Grace, Williams was musical director and arranger for the opening concert of Grace Knight's promotional tour for Kevin Jacobsen, as well as for tours with Perfect Match star, Debbie Newsome.

Williams was an early adopter and exponent of Music Technology and two Kurzweil K250's were used in his orchestrations for the ill-fated Australian Bicentenary musical Manning Clark's History of Australia - The Musical, one of whose composers was record producer and film composer Martin Armiger. Williams thereafter began working with Armiger in various roles for 15 Film/TV scores and was also orchestrator and conductor for leading screen composers Guy Gross and Antony Partos.

In 1989, Williams and Armiger were called as expert witnesses in the Federal Court of Australia supporting a copyright infringement case brought by Guy Gross against CBS Records Australia Limited and Collette Roberts, with the court finding in the defendants' favour. Also in 1989, Williams was choral arranger and pianist for Torvill and Dean's album Here We Stand, produced by Kevin Stanton, and recorded while Christopher Dean was laid up in Sydney, recuperating from a torn ligament.

From 1995 to 1997, Williams was Musical Director and Conductor of the Orchestra and Choir of the Waverley-Randwick Philharmonic Society, while studying conducting with Myer Fredman.

In 1998, Williams was record producer, arranger and conductor for Frank Bennett's album Cash Landing for EMI Music Australia, which was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album (1999) and from 1989–2006, he was a Higher School Certificate examiner and advisor in Music and Computing Studies for the New South Wales Board of Studies while teaching at Randwick Boys High School (1985–2006).

In 2005, Williams began a long-standing association with Caroline O'Connor as arranger for her show End of the Rainbow at the Sydney Opera House and for her album A Tribute to Garland recorded at the Opera House, and launched in an outdoor big band concert in Sydney's Taronga Park with Williams as keyboardist. Williams was also commissioned as arranger for her debut performance at Kander and Ebb –  The Night of 1000 Voices 2007 at the Royal Albert Hall, subsequently for her Garrick Theatre season of The Showgirl Within, and for the opening of Hamer Hall, Melbourne.

Scotland

Williams was répétiteur and assistant conductor for Edinburgh Grand Opera's production of Faust, and was musical director for the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group's production of Salad Days for the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He was also Funding Manager for Edinburgh Studio Opera.

In 2008, Williams joined with Nigel Osborne in his Balkans Music Therapy camps in Mostar and Rakovica for Bosnian War orphans, on behalf of Edinburgh University. He was also commissioned by Osborne to create Vienna Symphonic Library transcriptions of his orchestral arrangements for the Bootleg Beatles concerts ‘It Was Fifty Years Ago Today’, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and Echo Arena Liverpool.

In 2013, Williams' one act opera Medea received its world premiere at the Edinburgh Jazz Bar during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and was repeated at Edinburgh University’s Reid Concert Hall.

In 2015, Williams was arranger, conductor and composed additional music for the Glenfiddich 21 Year Old Whisky ad campaign featuring Calma Carmona performing the Franz Ferdinand song Love Illumination with the orchestra of the Scottish Opera arranged and conducted by Williams, which gained 1.7 million hits on YouTube.

Williams was elected Chair of the Wagner Society of Scotland in 2017, and has presented lectures on Wahnfried, Siegfried Wagner and The Third Reich.  He represents the Society at the Bayreuth Festival and at the annual RWVI Congress.

LGBT+ rights activism 
After working with New Zealand Labour MP Fran Wilde in support of her Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986, from 1990 Williams became involved with LGBT rights in New South Wales as a witness for a discrimination case brought by Redjoy Pty Ltd (trading as 'Gai Expectations') against Sydney City Council Employees Credit Union, interviewed on Nine Network's A Current Affair by Eric Campbell. 

In 1991, in collaboration with 18-year-old high school student Jennifer Glass, Williams co-founded and was six times re-elected co-convenor of the Gay & Lesbian Teachers & Students Association (GaLTaS), established to publicise widespread problems of anti-gay bullying and violence in Australian schools, and to provide support to its victims. A controversial attempt to set up a similar support organisation 'GAYTAS' in 1978 had failed, however, GaLTaS survived after LGBT+ students themselves spoke openly to both LGBT+ and mainstream media. After meeting with Williams and some of the affected students at the New South Wales Parliament, Education Minister Virginia Chadwick implemented School Anti-discrimination Grievance Procedures for Students, that provided a means for LGBT+ students to achieve redress and complete their education.

In 1992, Williams featured as a guest on the Nine Network's TV series Sex episode "Homosexuality", hosted by Australian actress Sophie Lee with Dr Kerryn Phelps as a medical reporter. The episode was a televised dinner at the Nine Network studios, together with Festival of Light politician Fred Nile and Parents and Citizens representatives. Williams was subsequently interviewed with Phelps on the Today Show concerning ongoing issues of school homophobia.

In March 1993, GaLTaS was awarded a Federal National Youth Grant of $30,000 by the Government of Australia to establish a toll-free hotline for gay and lesbian student victims of homophobic harassment and violence in schools. More than 500 calls were taken, and the research was compiled by GaLTaS co-convenor Ms Jacqui Griffin for inclusion in The SchoolWatch Report : A Study Into Anti-Lesbian and Anti-Gay Harassment and Violence in Australian Schools (with Epilogue by Derek Williams), launched in 1995 at Randwick Boys High School (where Williams taught) by Virginia Chadwick. From May 1993, Williams began to call on the parliament to remove private schools' LGBT+ related exemptions from the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1977. Following the launch of the SchoolWatch Report, Williams continued to work with Chadwick alongside the New South Wales Department of Education, the New South Wales Parents and Citizens Association and the New South Wales Anti-discrimination Board to address ongoing issues of school bullying, suicidal ideation, suicide among LGBT youth and homicide by students, via workshops, teacher training and books in schools programmes. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Attitude program and Channel 9's 60 Minutes broadcast television documentaries covering GaLTaS' endeavours to keep LGBT+ students at school. In February 1997, Williams addressed a Parliament of Australia forum on youth suicide convened by then Prime Minister, John Howard, working with PFLAG who also attended.

From April 1997, GaLTaS began representing LGBT+ students suing their schools in a number of landmark cases alleging breach of duty of care by the Catholic Education Office (CEO) and the New South Wales Department of School Education, that were settled out of court under non-disclosure agreements. In 1997, assisted by GaLTaS with Contingent Fee legal representation by Carters Law Firm, at age 13, Christopher Tsakalos became the youngest student ever to sue his school for anti-gay vilification and bullying. Christopher and his mother Vicky Tsakalos approached Williams about homophobic bullying that had caused him to change school several times, ending at Cranebrook High School in Sydney's West. With parental agreement, Nine Network's 60 Minutes show ran a story interviewing Williams, Christopher and Vicky Tsakalos, showing students at Cranebrook High School yelling abuse across the school playground followed by an interview with his headmaster. The story was followed up both in Australia's major mastheads, and internationally.

Williams was a GaLTaS witness in Jacqui Griffin's successful discrimination case against the Sydney Catholic Education Office, adjudicated by the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission under Chris Sidoti.

During the Justice James Roland Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service, Williams represented GaLTaS in submissions on behalf of LGBT+ teachers and students. In 1998, GaLTaS was absorbed into the New South Wales Teachers Federation as a Special Interest Group, with Williams as a founding member. Since 2008, Williams has been active in LGBT+ politics in Scotland and in 2018, was co-opted as Meetings Secretary of the Edinburgh University Staff Pride Network.

Credits

Filmography

Commissioning composers:
Martin Armiger, Guy Gross, Antony Partos, Roy Hubermann, David Kimber

Commissioning organisations:
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Nine Network, EMI Music Australia, Festival Mushroom Records, Picture This Music, John Singleton Ltd

Derek Williams credited as Arranger, Orchestrator, Composer, Associate Composer, Conductor or Musician in the following moving image works:

Film

 The Beast in the Storm, Turner Gang, (2016) composer, orchestrator, musician, audio engineer
 Hildegarde, Screen Australia, (2001) orchestrator
 Empire, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (1997) orchestrator
 The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, (1994) orchestrator
 Frauds, J & M Entertainment, (1993) orchestrator, conductor, composer – additional music
 Crush, Australian Film Council, (1992) orchestrator
  Blinky Bill, Yoram Gross Productions, (1992) orchestrator, conductor
 The Crossing, Beyond International Group, (1990) orchestrator, conductor, piano, composer – additional music
 Ring of Scorpio, Film Finance Corporation Australia, BBC Television, and Nine Network, (1990) orchestrator, conductor, composer – additional music
 The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy, Seven Network, (1989) arranger, orchestrator

Television

 Glenfiddich 21yo – TV & Online Media Campaign (2015) composer additional music, arranger/orchestrator, conductor, mixing and mastering engineer
 Hard Knox, Peter Bloomfield, (2001) orchestrator, composer – additional music
 Thank God He Met Lizzie, Stamen Films Ltd, (1997) orchestrator
  Seven Deadly Sins, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (1993) arranger, musician
 The Other Side of Paradise, Network Ten, (1992) orchestrator, conductor, composer – additional music
 Children of the Dragon, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, based on Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, (1991) orchestrator, conductor
 Police Rescue, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (1992) composer – additional music, arranger, keyboard programming
 Come In Spinner, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (1990) arranger, orchestrator, conductor
  Body Surfer, Ian Barry (1989) orchestrator, conductor, musician
 The Last Resort, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (1988) orchestrator, conductor, composer – additional music
 Seven Network TV Sports ID's, and Station ID Let's Celebrate '88 (1988)

Documentary

 Mail Porter, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, (2015) composer, orchestrator, musician, audio engineer
 Plot for Peace, (2013) orchestrator – Empire
 The Making of Longbird, Edinburgh College of Art (2012) musician
 Black Swan, Antony Partos (1995) orchestrator
 Widows, Roy Hubermann – Australian movie (1994) arranger, orchestrator
 The Wonderful World of Dogs, Mark Lewis (filmmaker), (1990) composer – additional music
  In Grave Danger of Falling Food, 220 Productions – Bill Mollison (1989) composer, arranger, orchestrator, musician
 Flashbacks, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1988) audio engineer

Discography

Education
PhD, BMus, DipEd, FTCL, LMusTCL, DipTeach(NSW), DipTchg(NZ)

References

External links
  
 
 
 
 
 

1952 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Australian LGBT rights activists
New Zealand film score composers
New Zealand gay musicians
Male film score composers
Gay composers
Male opera composers
New Zealand music arrangers
New Zealand classical composers
New Zealand conductors (music)
New Zealand LGBT composers
New Zealand LGBT rights activists
People associated with the University of Edinburgh
University of Auckland alumni
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
People educated at Rosmini College
New Zealand people of Scottish descent
New Zealand people of English descent