Julius Williams

Professor

Affiliated Departments

Africana Studies Department

Composition

Ensemble

jwilliams@berklee.edu

617-747-8286

Julius Williams’s Website

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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.

Courses Taught (6)

Conducting 1

COND-211

Conducting 2

COND-212

Directed Study in Conducting

COND-498

Contemporary Orchestra

ENCL-400

Music of the African Diaspora in the United States: Topics

MHIS-221

African American Composers: Classical Tradition

MHIS-353

Career Highlights

Served as music director of the Washington Symphony Orchestra and as artistic director of the Costa del Sol Music Festival in Spain
Conducted at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Opera Theater, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts
Performed and recorded with various orchestras in Europe and South America, including the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
Composer-in-residence at the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory
Faculty member at Wesleyan University, University of Hartford, University of Vermont, and other institutions
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

In Their Own Words

“Here at Berklee, we have one of the strongest composition departments in the country: we’ve got over 37 composers on the faculty, and 118 composers in the whole writing division. No other place has this many people who write music in one area. The attitude around here is laid-back but serious at the same time because most of the composers are very active, writing everything from performance works to film scores. And that’s what makes Berklee different. It’s a very exciting, creative atmosphere.”

“What’s great about our Writing Division is people can cross over; they can do projects in different departments. These composers are writing symphonies, string quartets, chamber works, orchestras, short works, piano pieces, choral pieces. It’s very exciting. And we’re conductors, so we get to see the pieces performed here.”

“One of the people at the Boston Symphony told me that Berklee composition students are the most well-rounded because they can write in all styles, from pop to symphonic works. People are beginning to realize what a jewel this is.”