Praised by Opera News as “fiery and gorgeous’, GRAMMY Award-winning artist Chrystal E. Williams has been seen gracing the stage both nationally and internationally. Her current and future engagements include ROSINA Il Barbiere di Siviglia Lyric Opera of Kansas City, AURELIA BROWDER in the world premiere of Jasmine Arielle Barnes’/Deborah D.e.e.p. Mouton’s SHE WHO DARED Chicago Opera Theater, a return to The Metropolitan Opera for productions of Carmen and El Niño, and a world premiere written by John Glover/Kelley Rourke Carnegie Hall with American Composers Orchestra.
Recent engagements include NEFERTITI Akhnaten English National Opera, MOTHER Amahl and the Night Visitors and COLLECTOR in the world premiere of Song of the Nightingale On Site Opera, FRICKA Das Rheingold Birmingham Opera Company (UK), Carmen (title role) Opera North (UK), MAKETATEN Akhnaten Metropolitan Opera, CARLOTTA Die Schweigsame Frau Bard Summerscape, STEWARDESS Dove’s Flight Minnesota Opera, ELIZABETH KECKLEY/CORETTA SCOTT KING Glass’ Appomattox Washington National Opera, LINDA Weill’s Lost in the Stars Glimmerglass Festival, CHARLOTTE Werther Opera Delaware and Baltimore Opera, ROSINA Il barbiere di Siviglia Sarasota Opera, and OLGA Eugene Onegin Northern Lights Music Festival. For the Birmingham Opera Company (UK), she has also performed KATERINA Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, DIDO Dido and Aeneas and HANNAH Tippett’s The Ice Break under the direction of Graham Vick. She created the role of REBECCA PARKER Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with Opera Philadelphia and has since sung it with numerous companies including Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Dayton Opera.
As a concert soloist, Williams recently sang Dett’s The Ordering of Moses with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK) and made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut under Yannick Nézet- Séguin in Bach’s Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150. She has also performed with Cairo Symphony Orchestra (Egypt), Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Springfield Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Projects, Virginia Symphony, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and New Jersey Master Chorale.
Lauded as a ‘mezzo-soprano of conscious’, Williams continues to foster unity, peace and understanding through music via Forrópera; co-created in 2016 with Brazilian composer and accordionist, Felipe Hostins. She was awarded the Classical Post’s Most Innovative Singer 2019, the Musical Fund Society Career Grant Award 2020, International Opera Awards 2020 (Young Singer Nominee), and The First Prize and Audience Choice Award winner at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition in Sweden and winner of Astral Artists’ 2014 National Auditions. Ms. Williams has also received awards from the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation, the New England Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
The Chrystal E. Williams Scholarship, in its twenty-first year, was founded by Williams to help students wishing to pursue a career in the performing arts. It is funded in part by her annual concert, An Evening with Chrystal E.; which will be held October 2024.
Williams is an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts. She holds a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Carnegie Mellon University.