Carol Williams (organist)

Dr. Carol Williams, International Concert Organist, San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society

Carol Anne Williams D.M.A., ARAM, FRCO, FTCL, ARCM is a Welsh-born international concert organist, now living in America; San Diego's Civic Organist; and the Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society in San Diego, CA; and Artist in Residence at St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, CA.

Education

British born, Williams was raised in a Welsh family with many musical influences. She began private lessons at age five and could read music before she could read English. Williams' formal training started with five years at the Royal Academy of Music where she specialized in organ performing as a student of David Sanger and obtained the Academy's prestigious Recital Diploma together with the LRAM (organ) and the LRAM (piano). She was awarded all the major prizes for organ performing and, during her studies, she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and a Fellow of Trinity College London, as well as an Associate of the Royal College of Music. Williams has also studied with Daniel Roth, the Organist at the Church of St. Sulpice, Paris, where Charles-Marie Widor was organist for sixty-three years. Moving to the United States, Williams undertook postgraduate study at Yale University under the direction of Professor Thomas Murray where she was appointed University Chapel Organist and was awarded an Artist Diploma (AD) together with the Charles Ives Prize for outstanding achievement. Then to New York City where she became the Associate Organist at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Long Island's Garden City and undertook Doctoral study under Professor McNeil Robinson at the Manhattan School of Music where she received the Helen Cohn award for her Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree.

History

Williams' performances have taken her all over the world. Some popular venues include: St. Sulpice and Notre Dame, Paris; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; Westminster Abbey; St. Paul's Cathedral; King's College, Cambridge; Queen's College, Oxford; Blenheim Palace; Woolsey Hall, Yale University; Memorial Chapel, Harvard University; St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York; Washington National Cathedral; St. Ignatius Loyola, New York; Riverside Church, New York. She has also given numerous concerts in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Monaco, Luxembourg, Holland, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, China and Russia. En route, Williams has been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in recognition of her contribution to music. A regular broadcaster in the UK and in America, she has been the guest performer with a number of leading orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and performed the inaugural recitals on a newly-installed Austin organ in Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Williams has been interviewed "live" on many radio programs, in which she has highlighted her profound love of the King of Instruments, and she is featured in the national-awareness video "Pulling out all the Stops" when she was filmed in concert at St. Thomas' Church in New York's Fifth Avenue. She also took part in the Virgil Fox Memorial Concert held in the fall of 2000 at New York's Riverside Church and a recording of the event was released. Williams is also presently hosting a video series TourBus, featuring the great and small organs of the world, its music, people and places.

In October 2001, Williams became the first woman in the United States to be appointed Civic Organist. She has been the San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society in San Diego, California since 2001. Williams performs an average of 75 concerts a year worldwide.

Discography

• Carol Williams Plays - Volume 2, Madness! MCTCD020 Melcot Music
• Carol Williams Plays MCTCD019 Melcot Music
• Mainly French MCTCD018 Melcot Music
• Hey Wurlitzer MCTCD016 Melcot Music
• Maid in China MCTCD015 Melcot Music
• Wurlitzer Plus! MCTCD014 Melcot Music
• Orchestral! MCTCD013 Melcot Music
• Tour de Force MCTCD012 Melcot Music
• Classic Power MCTCD011 Melcot Music
• Just Rags MCTCD007 Melcot Music
• Hammond Today MCTCD002 Melcot Music
• Carol Williams’ Collection MCTCD Melcot Music
• Sunday at 2 (CD)
• Blenheim Palace (CD)
• Oxford Town Hall (CD)

Videos

• Blenheim Palace - A Musical Tour Valentine Music Group OSV 507
• Organ Showcase - VHS Videotape Valentine Music Group OSV-508
• TourBus 1 to the King of Instruments (MCTDVD001 Bell Video)
• TourBus 2 goes to Methuen (MCTDVD002 Bell Video)
• TourBus 3 goes to Spreckels (MCTDVD003 Bell Video)
• TourBus 4 goes to Paris (MCTDVD004 Bell Video)
• TourBus 5 goes to Luxembourg (MCTDVD005 Bell Video)
• TourBus 6 goes to Ocean Grove (MCTDVD006 Bell Video)

References

• Carol’s official site
• Carol’s history on Pipedreams (American Public Radio)
• Carol Williams at Blenheim Palace
• Carol’s job with the Spreckels Organ Society
• Carol’s job with the City of San Diego
• Europe 2000 - THE DIAPASON
• New York Times Website article. 2007
• Review by a youth attending the Esplanade Theater in Singapore, 2007
• THE DIAPASON, Sept 2004
• "INTERNATIONAL CONCERT ORGANIST GIVES PRESTIGIOUS ALCOCK RECITAL" - Archived
• SAN DIEGO TRAVEL TIPS
• SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
• Carol’s management

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