Deborah Williams, Soprano, is currently Chair of Voice and a member of the Voice Faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Prior to moving to Boston, she was a tenured Associate Professor of Voice at Chicago State University. During that time, Ms. Williams was a member of the Chicago NATS Governing Board as well as an officer for the Chicago Singing Teacher’s Guild.
Past vocal teaching positions include Oklahoma City University (a member of the National Alliance for Music Theatre), University of Central Oklahoma, William Paterson University, Montclair State University, and Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. Student achievements include first place winners and finalists at NATS competitions in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Illinois. Additionally, Ms. Williams’ student successes include International Opera singers, Broadway singers, and professional Jazz and Gospel singers in Chicago and New York City.
Ms. Williams holds the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Vocal Performance degrees from the University of Oklahoma. She then continued study toward the DMA in Vocal Performance Degree at the University of Texas and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
As a solo artist, Ms. Williams’ national vocal career spans from recitals in Carnegie in New York City to concerts and recitals in Texas, Oklahoma, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Solo credits include concerts with the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, Kishwaukee Orchestra, members of the New York City Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. From 2013 to 2018, Ms. Williams was a featured soprano soloist with the Oak Park and River Forest Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Chicago. Performances there include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Three Cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.
Internationally, Ms. Williams has been heard in Ukraine at the International Festival of Modern Art singing Shostakovich’s Seven Poems by Block and in Rome and Pisa, Italy singing Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nova Amadeus.
Ms. Williams is an active adjudicator, presenter, and teacher for Vocal Competitions, Workshops, and Master Classes. Lecture Presentations include her paper on The Progression of Jazz Music and Singing from 1912 to 2012 at the Illinois Music Education Association Conference. Additionally, she presented a Workshop on Vocal Exercises for Specific Vocal Issues at the Classical Singer Convention in Chicago.