Amy Williams

Amy Williams is a composer of music that is “simultaneously demanding, rewarding and fascinating” (Buffalo News), “fresh, daring and incisive” (Fanfare), “curious and playful” (The New York Times). Her works have been presented at renowned international contemporary music venues, including the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Time:Spans, Lincoln Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, Roulette (New York), Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Gaudeamus Festival (Netherlands), Dresden Contemporary Music Days (Germany), Wigmore Hall (UK), Aix en Provence Festival (France), Spoleto Festival (Italy), Ars Musica (Belgium), Aspekte Festival (Austria), Festival Musica Nova (Brazil) and Thailand International Composition Festival. Her music has been performed by leading contemporary music soloists and ensembles, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orpheus, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Surplus, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Dal Niente, Talujon, Bent Frequency, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Arditti Quartet, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, Junction Trio, pianist Ursula Oppens, soprano Tony Arnold and bassist Robert Black. Her pieces appear on the Parma, VDM (Italy), Blue Griffin, Centaur and New Ariel labels and there are two portrait CDs of her solo and chamber works on the Albany label.

She is the recipient of a Howard Foundation Fellowship (Brown University), a Fromm Music Foundation Commission (Harvard University), the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Koussevitsky Music Foundation Commission. She was named a 2015-2016 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition, a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Ireland for 2017-2018, a 2022 MacDowell Fellow, a 2024 Arts and Letters Fellow from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and winner of the 2024 Henri Lazarof International Commission Prize from Brandeis University.

As a member of the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Ms. Williams has performed throughout Europe and the Americas, including the Ojai Festival, CAL Performances, Other Minds, Miller Theatre, Musica Contemporanea Ciclos de Conciertos (Buenos Aires), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), Warsaw Autumn, Cologne Triennale, and Wittener Täge für Neue Kammermusik. The Duo’s debut CD of Conlon Nancarrow’s complete music for solo piano and piano duet (Wergo, 2004) has garnered much critical acclaim. Wergo released subsequent CDs, including the music of Stravinsky (2007 and 2018), Morton Feldman and Edgard Varèse (2009), and György Kurtág (2015). Their recording of the Bartók Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion was released in a monograph by the Paul Sacher Foundation in 2018. Ms. Williams has also recorded for Mode, Albany, Beauport and Hat-Art.

Ms. Williams holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University at Buffalo, where she also received her Master’s degree in piano performance. She has taught at Bennington College (1997-2000) and Northwestern University (2000-2005) and is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. An avid proponent of contemporary music, she served as Assistant Director of June In Buffalo, Director of New Music Northwestern, and is currently on the Artistic Boards of the Pittsburgh-based concert series, Music on the Edge, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. She is Artistic Director of the New Music on the Point Festival in Vermont.

www.amywilliamsmusic.com