Meet the Chorale | Scott Williamson, Artistic Director

Scott Williamson is the Artistic Director of the Virginia Chorale. A native Virginian, he brings a wealth of experience to the Commonwealth’s premiere professional chorus. His “promising debut” concerts with the chorale, “Glorious Baroque,” were praised for the “excellence in quality of sound, extraordinary blend and balance, superb technique, and fashioned artistry” (Virginia Gazette).

He has been an Associate Conductor, Chorus Master, and artist with Opera Roanoke since 1998. He has conducted Rigoletto, Noye’s Fludde, The Old Maid and the Thief, and appeared with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra for Gala concerts in 2006 & 2007. He has been an associate conductor for productions of La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, La Cenerentola, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Le Nozze di Figaro. He has conducted the Connecticut Choral Society Orchestra, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, the Westminster Community Orchestra, the University Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra, and the Masterworks Orchestra. He has prepared choruses for such eminent conductors as Joseph Flummerfelt, Vance George, Uwe Gronostay, Donald Nally, and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

An acclaimed tenor, Williamson was the winner of the Center for Contemporary Opera’s 2005 competition and was featured in a solo recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2007. He has appeared with Tulsa Opera, Sarasota Opera, Lake George Opera, Bronx Opera, Opera Roanoke, and in Britain with the New Kent Opera Festival, the Snape Proms, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. In concert, he has sung with the American Symphony Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, Folger Consort, Hartford Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Saint Thomas Church (NY), The National Chorale, and the Orchestra of the 17th century. 2009 marked his fifth appearance at the acclaimed Bard Music Festival. Stage credits include the title character in Gounod’s Faust, Alfredo in La Traviata, Iro in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Agenore in Mozart’s Il Re Pastore, Armand in Massenet’s Thérèse, Handel’s Acis, and the Magician in Menotti’s The Consul. Concert appearances have included Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, all three Bach Evangelists, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Saint Nicolas, and the War Requiem. His performances have been praised by the New York Times, the Times of London, Opera News, the Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun. As a professional ensemble singer, he regularly appears with New York’s premiere choruses under the batons of such distinguished conductors as Levine, Maazel, Masur, Salonen, Hickox, Rilling, Botstein and Sawallisch.

An academic since 1996, he has served as Director of choral and vocal activities at Shepherd University and Associate Director of choral and vocal activities at Washington and Lee University, where he frequently returns as a guest artist and professor. Williamson has sung and conducted premieres of works by Robert Convery, Adolphus Hailstork, Lee Hoiby, Morten Lauridsen, Mark McCoy, Kirke Mechem, Arvo Pärt, Amy Scurria, and Terry Vosbein. He holds degrees from James Madison University and Westminster Choir College, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland. He has studied in Germany at the Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar, the International Young Artists Festival in Bayreuth, and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme.

To contact Scott directly, please address your e-mail to: scott@vachorale.org