It has been a hot minute since I have been able to fill you in on what I have been up to. That is because I have just been doing the work, and having a ton of fun doing it!
I had a great time working with some talented students and colleagues at Lyra Music Festival! It was great seeing the students grow immensely as musicians over the course of the two weeks. It is a great festival for talented High Schoolers (and strong and advanced middle schoolers) who have a knack for chamber music and solo repertoire, which I highly recommend!
Over the last week I had the honor of returning to ABT (shorthand for the American Ballet Theatre), to perform in the viola section as a sub for Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet and Joby Talbot’s Water for Chocolate. It is always thrilling to get to play in the Metropolitan Opera House! The orchestra sounded fantastic on both ballets, and it was great fun getting to play with some great violists!
Last night I also got a chance to perform with the Pocono Pops in Stroudsburg, PA. I didn’t get to take any photos of the Sherman Theater, but I did snap a shot of the setlist. The show was billed as “Dancing Queens,” and the music included some awesome disco showstoppers. It got to the point where the audience was getting up on the dance floor and boogie-ing on down. (I had to resist getting out of my seat and joining them).
Last but not least, but one of the performances I am most excited for this summer is Red Door Chamber Players first performance since COVID at the Westhampton Presbyterian Church. We are doing a sea-themed concert, and we are performing an arrangement of Stephen Sondheim’s By The Sea (one of my favorite songs from Sweeney Todd) that I put together for string quartet. This concert is on Sunday, July 28th, at 3pm. If you are interested in getting tickets, please let me know!
That is it for now! I will have more exciting announcements coming soon, stay tuned!
Gregory K. Williams 