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Carol Williams
concert organist
Carol Williams is the first woman to hold the famed organist's position at the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, as San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society--and she is the first female civic organist appointed anywhere in the United States.
English by birth, Dr. Williams studied at London's Royal Academy of Music (later being elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy; ARAM) receiving diplomas and prizes in both organ and piano. She also spent time studying in Paris with Daniel Roth at St. Sulpice.
After moving to the United States, she served as Yale University Chapel Organist while earning an Artist Diploma and the school's Charles Ives Prize. She later accepted an associate organist's position at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island, while completing work for her DMA degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
She has performed extensively in the USA, Europe, and Asia, and has performed with international orchestras such as the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra at the forbidden City Concert Hall. Her video "Carol Williams: A Musical Tour of Blenheim Palace" and CD "Music from Blenheim Palace" have earned high praise from critics and public alike. Dr. Williams will be a featured performer at the 2006 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Chicago.
In Her own Words....
Carol Williams "Sunday afternoons [at Balboa Park, San Diego] have to be, in a way, entertaining, but there's nothing wrong with that. The organ has a future if people play what audiences want to listen to."
(The New York Times)
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"Dr. Williams plays with passion and imagination, eliciting sounds that are alternately grandiose, ethereal, exotic, and colorful....Her abundant technical facility is matched by her exemplary artistry."
(The American Organist, 2008)
"A flawless program...[playing] as glittery as the gown she wore." (The American Organist)
"A brilliant but iconoclastic Carol Williams...the hot-blooded artist who prefers to delight in the moment and wants to share it immediately with the audience...very irresistible and atypical concert." (Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg, 2008)
"A virtuosic performance...A veteran of numerous performances at the outdoor Spreckels Pavilion, as well as recitals worldwide, Williams was right at home with the eclectic program, playing with brilliance in the Liszt, tenderness in the Cabena, playfulness in the Gershwin, and sheer enjoyment in the Kleive toccata." (The Diapason, review of performance at 2006 national AGO Convention, Chicago)
"A virtuoso's flair...out of the thundering masses of sound Williams produced delicate, flower-like arpeggiated figures that touched the spirit....Rarely does one hear Messiaen's strikingly original voice played so compellingly, so naturally."
(The Washington Post)
"Williams plays with verve and style and an innate musicality. More than technically excellent, her playing is artistic without being artsy...extremely enjoyable."
(The American Organist)
"A performance of epic proportions, in keeping with the artiste's already well-established reputation." (Keyboard Player, London)
"Electrifying...she quickly had the audience in the palm of her hand...a brilliant performance; clear, bright, authoritative playing...flowing,seamless performance--superb!" (The Organ, England)
"Williams takes Barrie by storm...flamboyant...magnificent."
(The Barrie Examiner, Canada)
"Rises to the challenges of her varied program with a transparent grace and lightness of touch that more than compensate for the somber colors of this fine old instrument."
(The American Organist)
"The delightful and extraordinarily talented artiste Carol Williams...truly stunning."
(Keyboard Player, London)
"The power of the organ unleashed...Carol Williams chatted easily with the audience, introducing most of the pieces herself in a warm, approachable manner...awe inspiring...some Broadway razzamatazz...suitably jubilant...controlled complexity and mayhem."
(The Straits Times, Singapore)
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