John McLaughlin Williams facts for kids

John McLaughlin Williams, born in 1957, is a talented American musician. He is famous for being an orchestral conductor and a violinist. He has even won a special award called a Grammy!

John was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He studied music at several well-known schools, including the Boston University School of Music and The Cleveland Institute of Music. He learned to play the violin from Dorothy DeLay, and he studied how to lead an orchestra (conducting) with Carl Topilow. He also learned about writing music (composition) from Donald Erb and Margaret Brouwer.

John has been a guest conductor for many famous orchestras, like the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He has also recorded several music CDs for a company called Naxos Records. On these CDs, he has helped bring back to life music by American composers from the early 1900s, like Henry Kimball Hadley and John Alden Carpenter. He worked with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine to record these pieces.

In 2007, John won a Grammy Award for his recording of a piece called Oiseaux exotiques by Olivier Messiaen. He conducted the Cleveland Chamber Symphony for this recording, and the pianist, Angelin Chang, also won a Grammy. Overall, John has been nominated for four Grammy Awards!

Besides conducting, John is also a skilled violinist. He has performed as a solo artist across the United States. He was even the assistant concertmaster for the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and played with the Boston Symphony. He was also a member of the Houston Symphony and the concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony.

Awards and Recognitions

John McLaughlin Williams has received several important awards and nominations for his musical work:

• In 2007, he won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra). This was a big achievement!
• He was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra).
• In 2008, he received another Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra).
• He also had two Grammy nominations in 2010: one for Best Chamber Music Performance and another for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra).

Discography

Here are some of the music recordings John McLaughlin Williams has conducted or played on:

As a Conductor

• Deon Nielsen Price : Yellow Jade Banquet and other Orchestral Works
• Ernest Bloch ; Violin Concerto, Benjamin Lees: Violin Concerto (This recording was nominated for a Grammy in 2008!)
• Nicolas Flagello : Missa Sinfonico, Arnold Rosner: Symphony No.5 Missa sine Cantoribus super Salve Regina'
• Olivier Messiaen : Oiseaux Exotiques (This recording won a Grammy in 2007!)
• Nicolas Flagello : Violin Concerto / Orchestral Excerpts from the Operas / Orchestral Songs
• John Alden Carpenter : Adventures in a Perambulator / Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
• Nicolas Flagello : Piano Concerto No. 1 / Dante's Farewell / Concerto Sinfonico
• Henry Kimball Hadley: Symphony No. 4 / The Ocean / The Culprit Fay
• George Frederick McKay : From a Moonlit Ceremony / Harbor Narrative
• George Frederick McKay : Violin Concerto / Sinfonietta No. 4 / Song Over the Great Plains
• Quincy Porter : Viola Concerto (This recording was nominated for a Grammy in 2010!)
• Corentin Boissier : Glamour Concerto / Philip Marlowe Concerto

As a Violinist

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor : Chamber Music; Nonet, Fantasiestucke, Five Negro Melodies for Piano Trio
• Chevalier de Saint-Georges : Six String Quartets