Gregory K. Williams

American violist Gregory Williams has performed widely as a soloist and orchestral violist and has been involved with several organizations that promote new music. He is also active as an educator. Williams, often billed as Gregory K. Williams, attended William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach on Long Island outside New York City, graduating in 2002. He earned a bachelor's degree in viola performance from Boston University in 2006, studying with Michelle LaCourse, and went on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, for a master's degree in viola performance and literature. His principal teacher there was George Taylor, and he graduated from that school in 2008. Williams undertook doctoral studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, studying with Karen Ritscher and Dr. Linda Sinanian and receiving his degree in 2018. By that time, Williams was already an experienced violist. He made his recording debut in 2012 on the album Settle Down by pop artist Julia Nunes, and he has appeared with a wide variety of pop and rock ensembles, including The Who, Peter Cetera, Jane Birkin, Iggy Pop, and the Three Irish Tenors. He supported himself during his studies as a freelance violist, beginning soon after his graduation from high school. For five years (2008 to 2013), he was on the faculty at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, New York, and he performed as a substitute or guest with various ensembles around the New York area and beyond. From 2013 to 2015, he was string orchestra director at Saint Francis Preparatory School in Queens, New York. From 2012 to 2017, Williams served as violist with the new opera-oriented group Rhymes with Opera. Since 2015, he has been a violist with the Red Door Chamber Players, and he has held the position of assistant principal violist with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has held the same position with the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra in New York since 2017. Williams is a member of the Golden-Williams Duo, a viola-cello duo, and he has given recitals in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and around the U.S. In 2020, he joined the chamber orchestra Parlando as principal violist. In 2024, Williams released his solo debut, Shadows: The Unaccompanied Viola Sonatas of Günter Raphael, on the Affetto label. He has taught viola at various institutions, including the Eastman School of Music for the 2022-23 school year, and in the fall of 2023, he became a visiting instructor of viola University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
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