Biography
Gail Williams is an internationally recognized hornist and brass pedagogue. She has presented concerts, master classes, recitals, and lectures throughout North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. After 20 years with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Williams is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. She is currently Principal Horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and has recently performed on a number of prestigious chamber music series. She is one of the founding members of CCM, as well as the Summit Brass. Ms. Williams has recorded and performed with the National Brass Ensemble in 2014 and in 2022.
In addition to her eight recordings with Summit Brass, Ms. Williams can be heard on her four solo recordings, two of which are available on Summit Records. Three chamber music CD’s are also available on Summit Records, one with Daniel Perantoni and two with Chicago Chamber Musicians. The recordings feature compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and works for horn, tuba and piano. A CD of works for horn and percussion by Alec Wilder, Charles Taylor, and the Goddess Trilogy for horn and piano by John McCabe is available through Ms. Williams. Ms. Williams has commissioned many works for horn by composers Dana Wilson, Anthony Plog, Douglas Hill, James Stephenson and Augusta Reed Thomas. Her latest solo CD is available on CD Baby, HORN MUSE, featuring commissions of Plog, Wilson, and Hill.
Ms. Williams is an Emeritus Horn Professor at Northwestern University, where she was on the faculty from 1989 to 2025. Her awards include Ithaca College’s Young Distinguished Alumni Award, an honorary Doctorate of Music, and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 from Ithaca College. In May of 2005, Ms. Williams was named the Charles Deering McCormick Teaching of Excellence Professor from Northwestern University.
Gail Williams has performed with the World Orchestra for Peace with concerts in London, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Rotterdam, Brussels, Budapest, Jerusalem, Salzburg, Krakow, Stockholm, Abu Dhabi, New York City and Chicago conducted by Valerie Gergiev. Ms. Williams has performed as guest solo horn with the Dallas Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.
SPECIALTIES:
Breathing
Performance anxiety
Audition preparation
LANGUAGES:
English
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