SOLOISTS AND CONDUCTORS
BREVARD MUSIC CENTER | OVERTURE
Prior to arriving at Rutgers, Williams served as the Director of Bands at University of Memphis (2003-2011); conductor of the Duke University Wind Symphony and director of the Duke in Vienna program (1997-2000); director of bands and chamber ensembles at California State University, Los Angeles (1993-1996); assistant conductor of Southern California Inland Empire Symphony and Los Angeles Solo Repertoire Orchestra in Burbank, and music director of the Lake Elsinore Civic Light Opera (1990-1993). Williams received his doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Jerry F. Junkin. He received a Master’s of Music degree in performance from California State University, Northridge. Williams is a member of CBDNA, TMEA, and is a sponsor and honorary member of the Memphis chapters of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Williams joined the conducting faculty at the Brevard Music Center in 2001 and was named Director of Band Activities in 2008. He has regularly achieved critical acclaim for his work with the Symphonic Band and Chamber Winds.
NIGEL ARMSTRONG, violin Nigel Armstrong is emerging as a dynamic and creative artist both within and beyond the realm of classical music. From his musical beginnings as a member of "The Little Fiddlers" in Sonoma, CA to collaborations with tango musicians in Argentina he's enjoyed using the violin in a versatile manner throughout his life. As soloist he's performed with orchestras such as the Dusseldorf Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and the Boston Pops, and with conductors including Sir Neville Marriner and Carlos Miguel Prieto. As a chamber musician his concerts have taken him across the US and abroad - highlights have included opportunities to share the stage with the Tokyo String Quartet and pianist Jonathan Biss. A graduate of the Colburn School and the Curtis Institute of Music, Nigel's teachers have included Arnold Steinhardt, Robert Lipsett, Zaven Melikian, and Donald Weilerstein, among others. He also feels fortunate to have lived with and learned from the Plum Village community founded by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, where he recently spent a year working on their organic farm and taking part in their daily life.
APOLLO'S FIRE Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo’s Fire was founded in 1992 by the award-winning young harpsichordist and conductor, Jeannette Sorrell. Sorrell envisioned an ensemble dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. Apollo’s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric. Hailed as “one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles” (THE INDEPENDENT, London), Apollo’s Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at Wigmore Hall, with a BBC broadcast. European performances include sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London (with live broadcasts across Europe), the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), Madrid’s Royal Theatre,
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Bordeaux’s Grand Théàtre de l’Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz (France), and Bregenz (Austria), as well as concerts on the Birmingham International Series (UK) and the Tuscan Landscapes Festival (Italy). North American tour engagements include the Tanglewood Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival series, the Library of Congress, the Tropical Baroque Festival in Miami, the Ojai International Festival in California, and major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The ensemble has performed two major US tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014) and a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in 2013. At home in Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire enjoys sold-out performances at its subscription series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming. Apollo’s Fire has released 21 commercial CDs, and currently records for the British label AVIE. Since the ensemble’s introduction into the European CD market in 2010, the recordings have won rave reviews in the London press: “a swaggering version, brilliantly played” (THE TIMES) and “the Midwest’s best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears” (THE INDEPENDENT). Five of the ensemble’s CD releases have become bestsellers on the classical BILLBOARD chart: the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos & Harpsichord Concertos, and Jeannette Sorrell’s three crossover programs - Come to the River – An Early American Gathering; Sacrum Mysterium- A Celtic Christmas Vespers; and Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering.
MATTHIAS BAMERT, conductor Matthias Bamert’s distinguished career started at the Cleveland Orchestra where he was Resident Conductor alongside the then Music Director Lorin Maazel. Since then he has held Music Director positions with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swiss Radio Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Associate Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Music Director of the London Mozart Players for seven years, he has masterminded a hugely successful series of recordings of works by “Contemporaries of Mozart” which has already exceeded 75 symphonies. In 1999, the orchestra’s 50th anniversary year, he conducted them at the BBC Proms, in Vienna and at the Lucerne Festival, and returned with them to Japan in January 2000. He has worked frequently in the concert hall and studio with such orchestras as the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, has appeared regularly at the London Proms, and often appears with orchestras outside London such as the BBC Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Outside of the UK he has regularly appeared with the great orchestras of the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo among many others.