At the heart of Williamstown, MA, Williams College is tuning up for a spectacular display of musical artistry. The Williams College Music Department offers an array of performances that explore diverse musical themes and cultural expressions. From the joyful harmonies of concert choirs to the intricate melodies of chamber music, and the dynamic renditions by the Berkshire Symphony, audiences will be treated to an unforgettable journey through sound. These events, showcasing both seasoned professionals and talented students, promise to enchant and inspire all who attend.

Musical Marvels at Williams College: A Celebration of Chamber and Symphonic Sounds

Williams College, renowned for its vibrant music scene, offers a rich tapestry of events featuring both student and professional performances. From the joyful melodies of the Concert Choir to the sophisticated arrangements of the Brass Ensemble, every event promises something unique. This cultural journey spans classical symphonies to operatic dramas, each showcasing the immense talents of its performers. Whether you’re a music aficionado or a casual listener, Williams College's diverse musical offerings are sure to captivate and inspire.

Exploring Musical Diversity at Williams College: A Celebration of Talent and Culture

The Williams College Music Department offers a vibrant and diverse array of musical events, each showcasing the talents of students, faculty, and visiting artists. From the joyful melodies of the Concert Choir to the rich sounds of the Berkshire Symphony, these events promise to delight and inspire audiences. With performances ranging from chamber music to international visiting artists, Williams College becomes a hub of musical exploration and cultural exchange, providing a platform where tradition meets innovation.

Williams College Music Department: A Symphony of Diversity and Talent

Williams College is making waves in the music scene with a series of captivating events organized by its Music Department. From the soul-stirring performances of the Concert Choir & Chamber Choir to the innovative brass arrangements in the Brass Ensemble, each event promises a unique auditory experience. Not to be missed are the engaging MIDWEEKMUSIC Tuesdays, the masterful piano renditions by Kate Liu, and the intellectually stimulating lecture by Prof. Zachary Wallmark. Join us as we explore the rich tapestry of sounds and cultures that these events have to offer.

Williams College Music Department: A Symphony of Diverse Melodies and Cultures

Williams College Music Department invites audiences to an engaging series of musical events that promise an eclectic mix of genres and cultural influences. From chamber music and brass ensembles to jazz nights and master classes by renowned artists, each event offers a unique experience. Highlights include the Concert Choir & Chamber Choir's exploration of joy through diverse composers, Kate Liu's master class and performance, and Zachary Wallmark's insightful lecture on music cognition. Dive into the world of music where tradition meets innovation, and every note tells a story.

Diverse Musical Symphony: Exploring the Music Events at Williams College

Zachary Wallmark is a musicologist with an interest in popular music, timbre, and music cognition. Prior to his appointment at UO, Wallmark served on the music faculty at Southern Methodist University, where he also held a courtesy appointment in psychology. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on American popular music history and analysis, music and emotion, film music, hip-hop, timbre, music and politics, and opera, among other topics.

EPSG:4326

Prof. Zachary Wallmark - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

Williams College

Ray Wang ’25, viola, offers an afternoon recital featuring viola works

Ray Wang '25, viola

In programs featuring cutting-edge new music and important works of the twentieth-century, the Williams Percussion Ensemble (WiPE) surveys a vast terrain of sound and rhythm. The ensemble employs all manner of percussion instruments, found sounds, and electronics to create music that resonates across boundaries of genre and discipline. In addition to music for percussion alone the group presents works for mixed ensembles and new and experimental music for a range of instruments.

Williams Percussion Ensemble

This Midweekmusic takes place in Thompson Memorial Chapel and features works performed by the organists of Williams, and other talented Williams music students.

MIDWEEKMUSIC in the Chapel

Pianist Kate Liu gained international acclaim after winning the Bronze Medal and Best Mazurka Prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. She was also awarded the audience favorite prize voted by the Polish public on the Polish National Radio.

Kate Liu, piano - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents Kate Liu, piano offering master classes for talented Williams music students. In this event violin students play for the Lucie Robert and receive feedback. The master class offers an opportunity to experience how these professionals pass on their knowledge of music to their students. The combination of playing, demonstration, and discussion of questions provides a fascinating window into the world of musicians. This event is free and open to the public.

Piano Master Class - Kate Liu - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents Sona Jorbateh & Band on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus. This free event is open to the public.

Sona Jorbateh & Band - Visiting Artist Series

Zafarán crosses time and boundaries, and incorporates musical traditions from around the Mediterranean, weaving together such diverse threads as Southern Italian chants, Sephardic love songs, Romani laments, and Turkish and Greek folk tunes. With driving rhythms, virtuosic improvisation, and the powerful voice of award-winning Italian singer Carmen Marsico, Zafarán bridges languages and cultures with their own eclectic blend of musical styles, combining deep traditions with original songs and ideas.

Zafarán - Visiting Artist Series

This faculty recital for wind instruments features Jacqueline DeVoe, flute; Michael Dee, clarinet; Charles Huang, oboe; Susan Daves, bassoon, and Victor Sungarian, horn.

Wind Faculty Recital

As a composer, Aucoin is committed to expanding the possibilities of opera as a genre. His own operas, which include Eurydice and Crossing, have been produced at the Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Boston Lyric Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Canadian Opera Company, among others. The Metropolitan Opera’s recording of Eurydice was nominated for a Grammy in 2023.

Matthew Aucoin - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

Presser Hall

This is the second of two recitals which give student musicians participating in the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition an opportunity to play their pieces for an audience before their auditions.

Recital for Berkshire Soloist Competition

A part of the Visiting Artist Series the Williams College Department of Music presents Music From China on Thursday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the Williams College campus. This free event is open to the public.

Music From China - Visiting Artist Series

This is the first of two recitals which give student musicians participating in the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition an opportunity to play their pieces for an audience before their auditions.

The Williams Opera Workshop presents a cast and ensemble of some of Williams most gifted singers. WOW brings to life stories touching love, wicked betrayal, war, and peace from the annals of the opera world.

Williams Opera Workshop

Clarinetists from the studio of Michael Dee present a concert of works by great composers.

Clarinet Studio Recital

Students of Jacqueline DeVoe offer an evening of flute music from across the centuries.

Flute Studio Recital

Students of Muneko Otani offer an evening of classic works for violin, as well as a number of chamber music works.

Violin Studio Recital

The annual Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols at Williams College will be held in Thompson Memorial Chapel. Two services (at 4pm and 6:30pm) feature choral music by the Williams Chamber Choir directed by Anna Lenti. Enjoy congregational singing of familiar carols and the traditional reading of the biblical Christmas story. The 4pm service will also feature the Berkshire Children’s Chorus under the direction of Ryan LaBoy. The theme of this year’s service is “Hope for Resolution,” and will feature seasonal music on themes of hope and light.

Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols

The cello studio of Julian Müller presents a recital that demonstrates the vitality and enthusiasm of its members.

Cello Studio Recital

Students of Doris Stevenson offer a performance that showcases the culmination of their work through the fall semester. All are invited to enjoy this recital of some of the great works in the classical repertoire.

Piano Studio Recital

Join students of sitarist Veena Chandra and tabla player Devesh Chandra for a taste of Indian classical music. This studio recital takes place on the Chapin Hall stage to provide space for the sweet sounds of the many musicians under the tuition of these two master musicians.

Sitar and Tabla Studio Recital

This recital is a chance to hear the very talented musicians in Joanna Kurkowicz’s studio as they showcase many of the finest works in the classic solo repertoire for violin.

Brass students of Alan Burns, Victor Sungarian, and Steve Felix present an end of semester recital featuring solo selections from the world of brass.

Trumpet/Horn/Low Brass Studio Recital

The Brass Ensemble teams with the Percussion Ensemble, a group that employs all manner of percussion instruments, found sounds, and electronics to create music that resonates across boundaries of genre and discipline. In addition to music for percussion alone the group presents works for mixed ensembles and new and experimental music for a range of instruments.  The ensemble often works directly with composers and collaborates with artists in diverse media in order to explore the connections between sound, form, image, and movement. WiPE strives to offer creative programming, innovative presentation, and immersive experiences in which the listener is invited to hear music in new ways.

Williams Percussion and Brass Ensembles

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, sponsored by the Music Department, explores vocal and instrumental traditions rooted in centuries of musical practice. The group meets weekly to play repertoire that spans a wide geographic, historical, and cultural terrain including folk, classical, and popular styles from around the Middle East.

Middle Eastern Music Ensemble

Students of Samirah Evans gather together to present an afternoon of jazz and standards, backed up by a combo of talented musicians.

Jazz Voice Studio Recital

Talujon gives the world premiere of On the Pulse of Morning for percussion sextet by Williams Music Department faculty member Ileana Perez Veláquez.  Inspired by the Maya Angelou poem of the same title, the composition honors the uplifting character of the poem, and is a celebration of the composer’s people and her Cuban heritage.  Employing a vast battery of percussion instruments, the work is inspired by the virtuosity and performance practice of Afro-Caribbean drummers

Talujon - Visiting Artist Series

Bring a friend  and enjoy our popular midday and midweek concert series. A musical sampler, every week offers up a mixture of traditional fare, with exciting accents of the unexpected. Williams student musicians value the informal atmosphere of MIDWEEKMUSIC and they use it to workshop their pieces, try out something new, show off something that doesn’t fit in other concert formats, or just to have some fun. Instructors are encouraged to have their students present themes together, and the impromptu mini-lecture can also be part of the enjoyment.

Jazz Nights – Williams Jazz Orchestra offers a performance that mixes superb modern interpretations of old big band favorites along with new works, all featuring talented student jazz improvisors. Incredibly, the whole band manages to bunch itself onto the modestly proportioned stage of Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, recalling the days of a more intimate big band sound. Eschewing amplification, except for soloists, the occasion gives the audience the chance to enjoy a really focused sound.

Jazz Nights – Williams Jazz Orchestra

Jazz Nights – Combos presents talented student groups. Outstanding musicians showcase their interpretations of standards alongside premieres of original works. The first evening of a two part event, don’t miss the next night of jazz with the Williams Jazz Orchestra.

Jazz Nights – Combos

MIDWEEKMUSIC is a popular lunchtime series taking place at 12:15pm on selected Wednesdays. We look forward to seeing you in Chapin Hall.

Midweekmusic

In the first half of the program the Balourdet Quartet presents String Quartet op. 64, No. 5 “The Lark” by Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet No. 5 (1934) by Béla Bartók. After the intermission they perform String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor, “From my Life” (1876) by Bedrich Smetana

Balourdet Quartet - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Balourdet Quartet giving a master class for talented Williams music students. Student chamber groups play for the quartet and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

Chamber Music Master Class - Balourdet Quartet - Visiting Artist Series

The Berkshire Symphony is a 75-member symphonic orchestra comprising, in roughly equal proportions, Williams College music students, Williams music faculty members, and area professionals. The Symphony performs music by a range of composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Wagner. Students are paired with their teachers and mentors throughout the rehearsal period and throughout the performance season. Seated this way, the students are exposed to a level of professionalism and discipline that is rare in an educational setting. At the same time, the students’ infectious enthusiasm contributes to the Berkshire Symphony’s remarkable energy and rich sound. Four concerts are presented each season. The goal is to expose students to a broad range of symphonic repertory, while maintaining a commitment to perform music by living and American composers.

Berkshire Symphony

Yoko Ono’s wildly imaginative work as a multidisciplinary artist and intellectual has attracted growing recognition in recent years. Long overshadowed by her celebrity marriage to John Lennon, Ono’s career has inspired eager rediscovery in the last two decades by art historians and critics. Nonetheless few have remembered the musical underpinnings of her artistic vocation—and the fact that she initially identified as a composer. Classically trained in piano and voice, with an emphasis on German Lieder and on opera repertories, Ono first articulated a compelling desire to become a composer during her formative adolescent years in World War II-era Japan. Ono’s childhood experiences of war compelled her decision to pursue a “life of the imagination” to counteract the dehumanizing circumstances that surrounded her and, eventually, to pursue a lifelong career in peace activism. This ethical calling informed her musical activities and thought as she assumed a leading, mediating role in transnational avant-gardes across three continents in the 1960s. Yet her vocation in music remained tenuous to the extent that she could never fit within the gendered and racialized expectations of the experimental music and rock scenes that she successively entered. Moreover, Ono’s use of the term “music” expressed an idiosyncratic take on multimedia performances that many audiences would not intuitively recognize as musical. Drawing on archival research and interviews, this talk explores thorny dilemmas of career, calling, and personal voice that defined Ono’s musical vocation from World War II to the present.

Prof. Brigid Cohen - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

The Zambezi Marimba Band features danceable and melodious marimba music from Zambia and Zimbabwe. Zambezi is a diverse group and employs singers, a horn section, and other instruments to its solid marimba fundament. More a joyous celebration than just a concert, the band wins over every audience with its flair and irresistibly kinetic energy. This is an event for the whole family – for those who want to move, or if you just want to enjoy a wonderful evening.

Zambezi Marimba Band - Family Days Concert

For nearly two centuries, a Brazilian folk theatre genre known as burrinha has been performed in various cities along the Lomé-Lagos corridor in West Africa. Emerging through the migration of victims and victimizers of slavery from Brazil to West Africa in the early nineteenth century, burrinha has become one of the most important symbols of Brazilianness in Benin and Togo. Burrinha is a multimedia art form that encompasses music, song, dance, costumes, and acting, often performed at masquerades and carnival-like events. Following the assassination of Sylvanus Olympio, Togo’s first president and a descendant of Brazilians, in 1963, a wave of political repression targeted Brazilian descendants, nearly extinguishing burrinha in the country. This presentation explores the strategies implemented by Brésiliens (as Brazilian descendants are known in Togo) to sustain the practice of burrinha during this period of oppression. These strategies included quietly singing and clapping in households, visiting relatives and established burrinha practitioners in Benin, and arranging song medleys accompanied by guitar and minor percussion instruments. Through this exploration, we gain insight into the significance of musical practices in preserving Brazilian diasporic identities in Togo, the hierarchies of prestige and authority within Brazilian-descendant communities in West Africa, and the broader theme of cultural resilience. Ultimately, we see how the echoes of Brazil continue to resonate in West Africa, even after two centuries of struggle for integration.

Prof. Juan Diego Díaz - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Renee Rosnes Quartet in concert, including acclaimed jazz pianist Renee Rosnes; Steve Nelson, vibraphone; Peter Washington, bass; and Carl Allen, drums. This free event is open to the public.

Renee Rosnes Quartet - Visiting Artist Series

Violinist Lucie Robert, a native of Montreal, has received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics alike for the expressive lyricism and tonal beauty of her playing.  Lauded in the The New York Times for her “melting tone” and “wonderfully supple approach to phrasing,” Ms. Robert carries on the great violin tradition of her teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Gingold.

Lucie Robert, violin and Jeffrey Cohen, piano - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents Lucie Robert, violin and Jeffrey Cohen, piano offering master classes for talented Williams music students. In this event violin students play for the Lucie Robert and receive feedback. The master class offers an opportunity to experience how these professionals pass on their knowledge of music to their students. The combination of playing, demonstration, and discussion of questions provides a fascinating window into the world of musicians. This event is free and open to the public.

Violin Master Class - Lucie Robert - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents Lucie Robert, violin and Jeffrey Cohen, piano offering master classes for talented Williams music students. In this event piano students play for the Jeffrey Cohen and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

Piano Master Class - Jeffrey Cohen - Visiting Artist Series

Williams Chamber Players first offers Turina’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, op. 67 performed by Joanna Kurkowicz, violin, Ah Ling Neu, viola, Julian Müller, cello, and Doris Stevenson, piano.

Williams Chamber Players

The Berkshire Symphony is a 75-member symphonic orchestra comprising, in roughly equal proportions, Williams College music students, Williams music faculty members, and area professionals. The Symphony performs music by a range of composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Wagner. Students are paired with their teachers and mentors throughout the rehearsal period and throughout the performance season. Seated this way, the students are exposed to a level of professionalism and discipline that is rare in an educational setting. At the same time, the students’ infectious enthusiasm contributes to the Berkshire Symphony’s remarkable energy and rich sound. Four concerts are presented each season. The goal is to expose students to a broad range of symphonic repertory, while maintaining a commitment to perform music by living and American composers.


Howard Fishman offers a special guest lecture for the Williams College Department of Music. Howard Fishman is an author, musician, composer, theatre-maker, and cultural essayist, based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, and his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Telegraph, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, ArtForum, The Village Voice, and The San Francisco Chronicle. His  lecture will deliver a lecture on the music and life of Connie Converse:

Howard Fishman - Special Guest Lecture

In 1973, Stay on It turned the coordinates of avant-garde music on its head. It is minimal, but unashamedly groovy; it is open to improvisation, grants performers all the freedom they could need, but it isn’t jazz and never slips into the non-committal. It is open to theatrical and performative elements, but also to poetic-lyrical ones.

MIDWEEKMUSIC - Chapin Steps

Williams Chamber Players opens the concert season with a concert featuring great works performed by outstanding music faculty. Robert Phelps, guitar presents the first work, Grand Overture, op. 61 by Mauro Giuliani. Alexandre Tansman Suite pour Trio D’Anches  is performed by the trio of Charles Huang, oboe; Michael Dee, clarinet; and Susan Davos, bassoon. Paul La Rosa, baritone, Doris Stevenson, piano, and Julian Müller, cello offer Saverio Mercadante’s Il Sogno and “O! du mein holder Abendstern” from Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner. After the intermission Joanna Kurkowicz, Joana Genova, violins; Ah Ling Neu, viola; Julian Müller, cello; and Doris Stevenson, piano perform Ernst von Dohnanyi Quintet for Piano and Strings in C Minor, op. 1

Students of Joana Genova offer an afternoon of classic works for violin.

The Williams College Department of Music presents graduating seniors from the Class of 2024 on their last full undergraduate day. This free event is open to the public. Doors will open at 10 a.m. for this very popular event. This hour long morning of music represents  is the final concert of the season.

Class Day Recital

Students from the studios of Robert Phelps offer music from the classical tradition, as well as jazz and blues including with popular tunes and original improvisation.

Guitar Studio Recital

Leo Marburg ’24, baritone curates a program that includes works for piano and for voice. Along with piano works in the jazz idiom, he presents Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano by Madeleine Dring with Kiri Fitzpatrick ’25, oboe, and Rein Vaska ’25, flute – and “Jupiter,” from The Planets by Gustav Holst (two piano arrangement) with fellow pianist Tasan-Smith Gandy ’24. Also included are vocal works by Sondheim, Bellini, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Leo Marburg '24, baritone/piano

Gwyn Chilcoat ’24, performs works from her repertoire for tuba along with classmates and friends, also drawing from wider brass literature.

Gwyn Chilcoat '24, tuba

Students of Doris Stevenson offer a performance that showcases the culmination of their work through the spring semester. All are invited to enjoy this recital of some of the great works in the classical repertoire.

Petra Hinds ’24, mezzo-soprano offers a program featuring songs from musicals and jazz standards, including works by Gershwin, Sondheim, and Jason Robert Brown.

Petra Hinds '24, mezzo-soprano

The cello studio of Julian Müller presents a recital that represents the vitality and enthusiasm of its members. Starting at 1pm cello students will present selections from their semester’s study of some of the greatest works for cello from the western classical music canon. After the first half of the recital, running roughly 90 minutes, the assembled will take a long intermission, enough time for the participants to eat. The second part of this day of cello will begin at 4:30pm. All are invited.

Molly Arts ’24, soprano performs works from her repertoire along with Jesse-Cohen Greenberg ’24, piano. Included in the program are works of Strauss, Puccini, Wagner, as well as musical theatre selections.

Molly Arts '24, soprano

Tasan Smith-Gandy ’24 is a cellist and pianist. This solo recital includes cello works: Bach Violin Partita No. 2, Chaconne; Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor (all movements); Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, III., along with Leo Marburg ’24, piano. There is also a movement from the String Quartet by Tasan Smith-Gandy. The piano performance includes Schubert Impromptu, op. 90, II.; Beethoven “Tempest” Sonata III., and Beethoven “Appassionata” I.

Tasan Smith-Gandy '24, cello, piano

Edmond Laird Raylor ’24, tenor presents a varied program including the song cycle Winterreise by Schubert, a duet with Emily Ham ’23, and a cappella quartets.

Edmond Laird Raylor '24, tenor

Williams Chamber Choir

Sarah McGinn ’24, soprano performs a mixture of art songs and arias, some familiar, and some new.

Sarah McGinn '24, soprano

Peter Miles ’24, baritone performs art songs in French, German, and Russian. In addition to arias and art songs of Faure, Schubert, Britten and Puccini, he presents: Largo al factotum – Mozart; Whither must I wander – Vaughn Williams; Suoni la tromba – Bellini; and But who may abide the day of his coming” – Handel.

Peter Miles '24, baritone

Paul Kim ’24 is a pianist and trumpeter. His recital includes Scriabin Piano Concert op. 20, third movement, along with his piano teacher, Doris Stevenson. Also on the program: Legende, with Lucy Luo ’27, piano; Poulenc Trio with Sam Bean ’26, horn; the Schoenfield Trio; a Brahms Quartet with Claire Seizovic ’13, Ames Hwang ’26, and Casey Cai ’27.

Paul Kim '24, piano, trumpet

Viola Recital

Casey Monteiro ’24, soprano presents musical theater songs from different time periods by Jason Robert Brown, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, Alan Menken, among others.

Casey Monteiro '24, soprano

Lea Obermüller ’24, soprano performs a song cycles from the classical repertoire.

Lea Obermüller '24, soprano

Sara Stebbins ’24, soprano offers a piano and voice performance in this lecture-recital on German Romantic Lieder.

Sara Stebbins '24, soprano

Students of Jacqueline DeVoe offer an afternoon of flute music from across the centuries.

Karthik Subbiah ’24, santoor offers a midday recital that features, among other featured works, Alaap, Jod, and Jhala in Raga Puriya Dhanashri and light classical pieces.

Karthik Subbiah '24, santoor

The Williams Concert Choir presents their spring concert, which centers around a performance of Jonathan Dove’s piece for double choir and piano, The Passing of the Year. This monumental work is dedicated to the composer’s mother, and explores texts on the “year” from poets including William Blake, Emily Dickinson, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. This concert will also feature the three winning pieces from this year’s Student Choral Composition Competition, from composers Samuel Boyce, Zach Houlton, and Nate Welsh.

Williams Concert Choir

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble explores vocal and instrumental traditions rooted in centuries of musical practice. The group meets weekly to play repertoire that spans a wide geographic, historical, and cultural terrain including folk, classical, and popular styles from around the Middle East.

Presenting works of the violin repertoire, Frances Hayward ’24, violin,  performs works including Beethoven Violin Concerto and the Heifetz arrangement of Gershwin’s It Ain’t Necessarily So with Lucy Luo ’27, piano.

Frances Hayward '24, violin

MIDWEEKMUSIC TUESDAY breaks the mold a little as it comes a day earlier than usual. Exams begin on Wednesday which brings a halt to our concertizing. Don’t miss this opportunity to have one last listen before the beginning of next semester.

MIDWEEKMUSIC Tuesday

The Chinese Music Ensemble performs the sizhu genre of chamber music played on such instruments as the erhu, pipa, ruan, zheng and yangqin. New programming pairs traditional with Western instruments. The ensemble is directed by Artist-in-Residence Wang Guowei.

Chinese Music Ensemble

Williams Brass Ensemble, led by Travis Dobson and Steve Felix, features soloists and brass groups presenting the best in chamber brass music. The directors are also the principle arrangers for the group. The flexibility their arranging offers a huge range of possibilities, far beyond the limited stock material available to brass groups.

Brass Ensemble

Students of classical voice in the studio of Erin Casey present a varied and entertaining program including opera arias and Broadway classics.

Voice Studio Recital

For over thirty years people of all faiths have been invited to join the Gospel Choir to celebrate the tradition and move ahead into a future of joyous song.

Williams Gospel Choir

Jazz Nights – Williams Jazz Orchestra offers a performance that mixes superb modern interpretations of old big band favorites along with new works, all featuring talented student jazz improvisors. Jazz Nights also features some of the best of student small combo jazz. The second evening of a two part event, don’t miss the jazz combos on April 25.

Jazz Nights - Williams Jazz Orchestra

Jazz Nights – Combos features an evening of talented student groups. Outstanding musicians showcase their interpretations of standards alongside premieres of original works. The first evening of a two part event, don’t miss the next night of jazz with the Williams Jazz Orchestra.

Jazz Nights - Combos

Leah Rosenman ‘24, mezzo-soprano performs, among other featured works, songs by Duparc, and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder.

Leah Rosenman ‘24, mezzo-soprano

Presenting works of the violin repertoire, Audrey Shadle ’24, violin,  performs works including Bach Chaconne, Bartok Sonata, and the Concerto for Violin by Jules Conus.

Audrey Shadle '24, violin

Robin Wang ’24 is a pianist and violist. Her solo recital starts with the Hindemith Viola Sonata, op. 11 No. 4, with Jesse Cohen-Greenberg ’24, piano. Piano works include Bach – Partita No. 6 (selections); Fauré – Nocturne No. 13; Ravel – Ondine; Hamelin – Étude No. 11; Chopin – Fantaisie in F Minor; and a folk trio with Paul Kim ’24, clarinet and Sara Stebbins ’24, violin.

Robin Wang '24, piano and viola

Jesse Cohen-Greenberg ’24, piano presents of recital of classical piano works including the third Chopin Sonata, the Schumann Fantasy, and etudes by Debussy etudes.

Jesse Cohen-Greenberg '24, piano

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Berkshire Symphony in concert on Friday, April 19, at 7;30 p.m. in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus. There is a pre-concert talk with conductor Ronald Feldman at 6:45 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall.

Berkshire Symphony - Simone Dinnerstein, piano

The Williams College Department of Music presents Simone Dinnerstein offering a master class for talented Williams piano students. In this  event piano students play for the Simone Dinnerstein and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

Piano Master Class - Simone Dinnerstein - Visiting Artist Series

New Thread Quartet presents Walk for a shell, a special concert of repertoire from their yearly fall Explorations and spring Electric Sax concerts. An aural feast for curious minds, the works span the reflective to the frenetic, notated to the improvised, and the tiniest sounds to the uber-rich sounds only a saxophone quartet can produce.

New Thread Quartet - Visiting Artist Series

Richard O’Donnell ’27 performs works including Ravel Violin Sonata in G Major, and Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77.

Richard O'Donnell '27, violin

Williams College Percussion Ensemble and New Music Williams presents a concert titled In Landscapes that explores the concept of music as a sonic landscape. Featuring music by Caroline Shaw, Sarah Hennies, Brittany J. Green, John Murphree, and John Cage, this program features a variety of repertoire reminiscent of everything from vast empty plains to bustling and kinetic cityscapes. Directed by Matt Sharrock.

Adithya Vaidhyan ’24, tenor saxophone, presents his senior thesis recital. Leading a jazz quartet, he is performing music inspired by Branford Marsalis’s master work Crazy People Music, as well as original compositions.

Adithya Vaidhyan '24, saxophone - Senior Thesis Recital

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel offering master classes for talented Williams music students. In this event violin students play for the Judith Ingolfsson and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

Violin Master Class - Judith Ingolfsson - Visiting Artist Series

Engaging, imaginative programming and dazzling, probing artistry are hallmarks of the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel. Individually, Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel are both seasoned soloists, who have won acclaim for their performances around the globe. Together, they create connections, tell untold stories and take audiences on journeys to the heart of chamber music. A recent world premiere of Paul Arma’s Sonata for Violin and Piano at the Konzerthaus Berlin was hailed as the “sensation of the evening” by Deutschlandfunk – “There was an intensity in the performance that no one on the audience could escape.”

Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel offering master classes for talented Williams music students. In this  event, talented Williams piano students play for the Vladimir Stoupel and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public

Piano Master Class - Vladimir Stoupel - Visiting Artist Series

The Williams College Department of Music presents the Ingolfsson/Stoupel Duo giving a master class for talented Williams music students. Student chamber groups play for the quartet and receive feedback. This event is free and open to the public.

Chamber Music Master Class - Duo Ingolfsson/Stoupel - Visiting Artist Series

Mokoomba, an explosively talented six-man crew from the Victoria Fall, has been hailed as one of the most exciting band from Africa in the 21st century! With over 40 countries and prestigious international festivals under their belt, they performed at the world’s biggest festivals and venues, Sziget, Roskilde, North Sea Jazz, New York’s Apollo Theater, New Orleans Jazz and many more.

Mokoomba - Visiting Artist Series

As the preeminent African musicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia noted in 1961, meaning in African music exists as a series of modes and perspectives rather than as one static and unified concept. Accordingly, one must examine the multitude of statements, interpretations, and relationships associated with musical performance and practice. Moreover, one must treat these elements as fundamental aspects of the way musical meanings take shape rather than as tangential details (Nketia 1961, 5). With these points in mind, this talk explores varied meanings of power relations in songs previously composed and performed in the royal court of the Ugandan Kingdom of Buganda. Problematizing the relationship between the repertoire’s multiplicity of meanings and their relevance in twenty-first century Uganda, the lecture argues that the songs live in a dialogue with modern politics.

Professor Damascus Kafumbe - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

Bernhard Music Center,

The Williams College Department of Music presents Julian Müller, cello, in a faculty recital on Friday in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the college campus. Artist Associate in Piano Elizabeth Wright collaborates on piano. The event is free and open to the public.

Julian Müller, cello; Elizabeth Wright, piano - Faculty RecitaL

Professor Emily Richmond Pollock of MIT School of School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences offers a Class of 1960 Lecture titled, American Opera Festivals, the Geography of Canon, and the Canonicity of Geography.

Professor Emily Richmond Pollock - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

This concert explores the theme of “Fun,” featuring music from diverse composers, cultures, and backgrounds. While music certainly has the ability to heal, inspire, comfort, and educate, it also has the ability to bring joy to both the listener and the performer alike. The choirs will seek to bring this joy and fun through the music of Bach, Esmail, Hogan, Monk, Whitacre, and others.

Concert Choir & Chamber Choir

The Williams Gospel Choir offers an afternoon of inspiring song open to all in Chapin Hall.

For over thirty years people of all faiths have been invited to join the Gospel Choir to celebrate the tradition and move ahead into a future of joyous song.

The Williams Gospel Choir continues to be a force that uplifts and empowers students and community members alike with their powerful and soulful voices. Its members also continue to consider the historic significance of gospel and the special role it continues to play in the lives of people from all over the world.

Williams Brass Ensemble, led by Neil Freeburn and Alan Burns, features soloists and brass groups presenting the best in chamber brass music. The directors are also the principle arrangers for the group. The flexibility their arranging offers a huge range of possibilities, far beyond the limited stock material available to brass groups.

Jazz pianist Emmanuelle Monahan ’25 offers a recital featuring a trio and presenting a mix of original jazz compositions with a handful of jazz standards.

Emmanuelle Monahan '25, piano

Discover the fascinating world of chamber music with some of our talented student groups as we offer an afternoon of string and wind music for various formations: trios, quartets, and quintets.

Chamber Music Studio Recital

Students of Jacqueline DeVoe offer flute music from across the centuries.

The Chinese Music Ensemble performs the sizhu genre of chamber music played on such instruments as the erhu, pipa, ruan, zheng and yangqin.  The ensemble is directed by Artist-in-Residence Wang Guowei.

Williams College Music Department

Apr 26, 2025

Williams Gospel Choir

Apr 30, 2025

Brass Ensemble

Apr 30 - May 11, 2025

Violin Studio Recital

Apr 30 - May 14, 2025

Midweekmusic

May 1, 2025

Jazz Nights – Combos

Apr 23, 2025

Prof. Zachary Wallmark - Class of 1960 Music Lecture

Apr 19, 2025

Ray Wang '25, viola

Articles & News

Williams College Music Department