Leon Williams
American baritone Leon Williams has performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Honolulu Symphony and Florida Orchestra), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Hawaii Symphony/Andrew Litton), Orff’s Carmina Burana (Florida Orchestra, Baltimore, Reading, Alabama, Lima, Westchester, Grand Rapids, Jacksonville, Hartford and Colorado Symphonies, National Philharmonic, and at the Berkshire Choral Festival); Vaughan-Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem, the Mozart and Fauré Requiems and Haydn’s Creation with the Colorado Symphony; A Sea Symphony with the Portland, Colorado, Grand Rapids and Illinois Symphonies and Florida Orchestra; Fauré’s Requiem with Raymond Leppard and the Kansas City Symphony; Brahms’ Requiem with the Alabama, Springfield and Santa Barbara Symphonies; Weill’s Lindberghflug with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Mahler’s Rückertlieder at Japan’s Sapporo Festival, and the composer’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Eighth Symphony at New York’s Bard Festival; Copland’s Old American Songs with the Warren Philharmonic, the Verdi Requiem with the Modesto Symphony and Lee Hoiby’s I Have a Dream with the Amarillo Symphony. Among the other conductors with whom he has worked are Leon Botstein, David Lockington, Andrew Constantine and Marin Alsop. As well-versed in “classical” and “pops” literature, Mr. Williams is celebrated for programs of spirituals, Holiday and popular standards and showtunes. He appeared on Broadway and on tour in the musical Ragtime and has been guest soloist on “Pops” programs with the Grand Rapids, Elgin, Stockton, Westfield and South Bend Symphonies.
Opera credits include Anthony in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at Toledo Opera, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the same composer’s Figaro at Hawaii Opera Theatre. A much-in-demand Porgy and Bess principal, he sang Porgy with Yuri Temirkanov conducting in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sportin’ Life with Markand Thakar and the Duluth-Superior Symphony and Jake in the Dallas Opera production, as well as for his Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony debuts, both under Bramwell Tovey.
Passionately devoted to the art of the song, Mr. Williams has performed Brahms’ Vier ernste Gesänge with Sarah Rothenberg and the Da Camera Society of Houston (to which he returned for a special program of the music of Charles Wuorinen, repeated at the Guggenheim under the baton of James Levine); an “Art of the Spiritual” program at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater; an all-American program at Japan’s Tochigi Music Festival and Maine’s Arcady Music Festival; and given recitals in Hartford, Pittsburgh, Princeton and throughout his native New York City, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall (the songs of Richard Hundley) and the 92nd Street Y (a much- acclaimed all-Poulenc program with Michel Sénéchal and Dalton Baldwin). Mr. Williams has won top prizes in the Naumburg, Joy-in-Singing, and Lola Wilson Hayes Competitions. He holds a Master of Music degree from Juilliard and bachelor’s degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
