Michael Glenn Williams (born October 23, 1957 in
Lancaster,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
) is an American
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
and
technologist
Technologist may refer to:
* Applied Science Technologist, a Canadian professional title in engineering and applied science technology.
* Architectural technologist, a specialist in the technology fields of building, design and construction.
* C ...
.
Biography
Williams' earliest years were spent in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, beginning trumpet studies and composing at 8 years old. At age 12 he was programming DEC PDP 8 minicomputers. He attended CSU Northridge as a dual major in composition and piano performance where he studied with
Aurelio de la Vega
Aurelio de la Vega (November 28, 1925 – February 12, 2022) was a Cuban-American composer, lecturer, essayist, and poet. He wrote numerous works in many forms and media and, from the early 1960s, was an active force on the United States musical ...
,
Daniel Kessner,
Frank Campo, and
Francoise Regnat. He pioneered composing for FM synthesis combined with music concrete and acoustic instruments. He did graduate studies at the
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman.
It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...
as a composition major, where he taught undergraduate electronic music, and worked with
Samuel Adler,
Robert Morris,
Warren Benson, pianist
Rebecca Penneys Rebecca Penneys (born 1946) is an American-born pianist of Russian-Ukrainian-Jewish descent. She is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. In 1965, she was the youngest contestant to have ever entered the Inte ...
, and briefly with
Joseph Schwantner
Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize.
Schwantner ...
and
David Burge
David Russell Burge (March 25, 1930 – April 1, 2013) was an American pianist, conductor and composer. As a performer, he was noted for championing contemporary pieces. The ''New York Times'' called him "one of America's important pianists," and h ...
.
Performance career
Williams is performing as pianist in
The Chopin Project, with the jazz group
1 40 4 20, and as a studio pianist for film and television. As composer-in-residence at the Lake Como Festival 2010, he performed as recitalist for the International Piano Academy's Piano Master series. He premiered works written for him by
Jeffery Cotton,
Jeff Rona
Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Rona (born March 3, 1957) is an American composer for film. He was a member of Hans Zimmer's '' MediaVentures''. His credits include ''Sharkwater'', ''Traffic'', ''God of War III'', '' Phantom'' and '' Veeram''.
Jeff Rona ...
and other composers. He twice won the Northridge Chamber Music Award for performances of contemporary music. Williams also regularly releases performances on his Facebook page and YouTube channel
Michael's Piano Bar"
Works
Williams composes for solo piano, chamber ensembles, choir and solo voice. Works for orchestra include
Video Games Concerto,
New West Overture,
Rising Stars Overture,
Oceanic Overture, American Prairie Sketches,
Tarantella
() is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...
for piano and orchestra, composed for pianist
Sean Chen;
Princess Concerto for piano, narrator and orchestra; and
The Gates of Hell
''The Gates of Hell'' (french: La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the ''Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 ...
a series of tone poems based on the
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
sculptures. Williams catalogue for solo piano is extensive, with over twenty suites. Williams also composed for movies including
King of the Hill
''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
,
The Limey
''The Limey'' is a 1999 American crime film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. The film features Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Barry Newman, Nicky Katt, and Peter Fonda. The plot concerns an English career ...
,
Younger and Younger
''Younger And Younger'' is a 1993 American comedy film co-written and directed by Percy Adlon and starring Donald Sutherland, Brendan Fraser and Lolita Davidovich.
Synopsis
Jonathan Younger owns a self-storage facility, and runs it with his wife ...
, ''
The House of Yes
''The House of Yes'' is a 1997 American dark comedy film adapted from the play of the same name by Wendy MacLeod. The film was written and directed by Mark Waters (in his directing debut), produced by Robert Berger, and stars Parker Posey, Josh ...
'',
Wonderland and ''
Wicker Park''. He also composed cues and performed piano for the TV series
Chicago Hope
''Chicago Hope'' is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charitable hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
...
.
Notable recordings
* For The Young Artist: Sean Chen Plays the Works of Michael Glenn William
Navona Records Sean Chen Pianist
* Fine Music
Navona Records Sean Chen Pianist
* Digital Animatio
Stradivarius Records Enrico Pompili
Enrico Pompili (born 1968 in Bolzano) is an Italian pianist.
A native of Bolzano, he won several Italian national competitions before being prized at the Dublin International Piano Competition. In 1994 he was second to Viktor Lyadov at the Hamama ...
and
Gabriele Baldocci pianists
* Lyricism: Songs Without Words
AIX Records Roberto Prosseda Roberto Prosseda (born 1975) is an Italian classical pianist.
Prosseda began composing for the piano at the age of four, and took his first private piano lessons at six. In 1985, he entered the Conservatorio Ottorino Respighi in Latina, where he st ...
, pianist
* Chroma, Capstone
Jeri-Mae Astolfipianist
* Wet
Michael Williams with
1 40 4 20, artists
* Jazz Trespassers, Pocket Jazz Records,
1 40 4 20 artists
Technologist
As a technologist, Williams has served as the Vice Chair of the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
802.21 working group, secretary for the IEEE 1275
Open Firmware
Open Firmware is a standard defining the interfaces of a computer firmware system, formerly endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It originated at Sun Microsystems, where it was known as OpenBoot, and has bee ...
working group, and member of the
IEEE 1754 Open Microprocessor working group. He authored the program SuperScore, one of the first computer editing and printing programs for music. He authored articles for the
IEICE
The is a Japanese institute specializing in the areas of electronic, information and communication engineering and associated fields. Its headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan. It is a membership organization with the purpose of advancing th ...
, Music Technology, Electronic Music Educator, and Klavier. He was awarded the title of Leading Scientist while working at
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
. He holds patents in a variety of areas including network security, clustering, authentication and secure search.
External links and references
Michael Williams website* SuperScore Announcement at CES https://web.archive.org/web/20060208022502/http://landley.net/history/mirror/8bits/ti99/time1987.htm
* Directions in Media Independent Handover, IEICE Transactions https://web.archive.org/web/20090224182248/http://ietfec.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/E88-A/7/1772
* The Chopin Project https://www.youtube.com/user/gwizvideo
* Announcement of IEEE 1754 Open Microprocessor Standard http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sparc/1994/03/19/0000.html
* IEEE Std 1275-1994: IEEE Standard for Boot Firmware (Initialization Configuration) Firmware: Core Requirements and Practices (ISBN Number: 1-55937-426-8)
Interactive Broadcast Television* [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=%22cluster+accelerator+network+interface%22&OS= Clustering Patent]
Patent for Prioritized Network Access for emergenciesCited by
*
ttps://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2007012932&_cid=P21-L8P21Y-95003-1 Patent for Dynamic, continuous, authenticated web, email and messaging search and query systemPatent for Integrated voice mail and email with searchable voiceCited by
Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Michael Glenn
1957 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century classical composers
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century American composers
21st-century American pianists
21st-century American male musicians
Contemporary classical music performers
Composers for piano
American classical composers
American male classical composers
American classical pianists
American male pianists
Male classical pianists
Pupils of Samuel Adler (composer)