Biography
John Elson Williams is elated to be one of the newest faculty at Columbia College Chicago where he is the Associate Professor of Instruction and Music Director of Musical Theatre. He has been the tenor soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Vespers with the Michael O’Neal Singers, Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Sellum in Stravinsky’s Rakes Progress, and the witch in Humperdinck’s Handel and Gretel. Additionally, he has performed as tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah and Saint-Saen’s Christmas Oratorio, as well as presented Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the North Carolina Symphony. Before moving to Chicago, he was the tenor soloist and cantor at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta and the music director of musical theatre and opera theatre at the University of West Georgia.
He has music directed musicals and operas across the east coast. Credits include Aladdin, Cendrillon, Evil Dead, Die Fledermaus, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Godspell, Gospel at Colonus, Heathers, Little Women (musical), Meanwhile Back at Cinderella’s, Songs for a New World, Speed Dating Tonight, Pippin, and Chicago. He was recently awarded for excellence in music direction from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for Songs for a New World.
John’s students have regularly earned high marks in both the classical and music theatre categories in student auditions of NATS. While some of his former students currently excel at performing pop, gospel, R&B, music theater, and classical genres. They’ve gone on to perform at Horizon Theatre Company, Atlanta’s Black Nativity, Atlanta Lyric, and Alliance Theatre.
John holds a PhD from the University of Iowa in Vocal Pedagogy where he studied with Ingo Titze and Eileen Finnegan, a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Stanley Cornett, and a Bachelor of Music with a minor in English from East Carolina University where he studied with Louise Toppin and Perry Smith. He is proudly affiliated with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Musicians United for Social Equity (MUSE), and Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia.
Instructional Areas
Musical Theatre Technique and Analysis, Vocal Pedagogy, Healthy Speech and Singing Practices.
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Utilizing Marking Vocal Techniques in Rehearsal Settings -- Voice Habits and Habilitation Among Operatic and Music Theater Singers -- Vocal Load, Vocal Dose, and Vocal Fatigue of Operatic and Musical Theater Singers -- Synthesis of Musical Theater and Operatic Vocal Techniques -- Gender Neutrality in Vocal Pedagogy -- The Relationship Between Music and Text: Character Analysis from the Viewpoints of the Librettist, Composer, and Actor -- BIPOC and Gender Neutrality Inclusion in Musical Theater Productions
Degrees
B.M., Voice Performance East Carolina University 2010
M.M., Voice Performance and Pedagogy Johns Hopkins University 2012
Ph.D., Music University of Iowa 2022