Julius Williams is an internationally acclaimed award-winning conductor and composer. He has conducted countless symphony orchestras around the globe, and as a composer his work has been performed by many major symphonies and orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic.
Presently, he is the artistic director and conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and professor of composition at Berklee College of Music. He is the past president of the International Conductors Guild and cochair of the League of American Orchestras' Conductors Constituency, and music director at Trilogy: An Opera Company.
He served as a guest curator for SiriusXM's radio channel Living American. Williams' recordings are on Albany Records, PARMA Recordings, Centaur Records, and Naxos Records.
Career Highlights
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Served as music director of the Washington Symphony Orchestra and as artistic director of the Costa del Sol Music Festival in Spain
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Conducted at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Opera Theater, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts
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Performed and recorded with various orchestras in Europe and South America, including the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
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Composer-in-residence at the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory
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Faculty member at Wesleyan University, University of Hartford, University of Vermont, and other institutions
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Performed with various artists, including Dionne Warwick, Vanessa Williams, Erykah Badu, and Jennifer Holliday, among others
Awards
- Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year (2022-2023)
- Recipient of the Dupont Scholar Award
- Annual American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards
- Astral Foundation Award
- New York State Education in the Arts Award
- Recipient of the Distinguished Medal of Artistic Achievement from the Ecuador Youth Symphony Orchestra Foundation
- D.A., Keene State College (honorary)
- Aspen Professional Fellowship
- Connecticut Commission on the Arts Fellowship