Chrystal E. Williams
Praised by Opera News as “fiery and gorgeous’, Ms. Williams has been seen gracing the stage both nationally and internationally. In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Williams continues her sought after recital work and makes her Dayton Opera debut in a reprisal of Rebecca Parker in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, makes her role debut as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, returns to On Site Opera to sing the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, joins American Lyric Theater in a workshop of Jasmine Barnes’/Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s She Who Dared, returns to the English National Opera to make her mainstage debut as Helen in King Priam (COVID19) and Nefertiti in Akhnaten, and is featured with her duo-Forrópera-in the Black Heritage Day celebration in coproduction with Greensboro Opera and the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum Music Festival. March 2024 will mark Ms. Williams’ Carnegie Hall debut in a world premiere written for the duo and American Composers Orchestra by John Glover and Kelley Rourke.
The 2021-2022 season saw Ms. Williams make her role debut as Fricka in Das Rheingold with Birmingham Opera Company (UK), make her company and role debut as Carmen with Opera North (UK), join Opera Delaware/Delaware Symphony Orchestra for a New Year’s Eve Gala (COVID19), join the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the UK premiere of Dett’s The Ordering of Moses, on tour again with Orchestra 2001 in Crumb’s The River of Life, return to the Metropolitan Opera as Maketaten in Akhnaten, and make her role and company debut with Bard Summerscape as Carlotta in Die Schweigsame Frau. The 2020-2021 season saw Ms. Williams make multiple house debuts including Minnesota Opera as the Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight and Seattle Opera and Pittsburgh Opera as Rebecca Parker in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, a role she created with Opera Philadelphia and has since sung with numerous companies both in the US and UK. She was also slated to premiere the role of Holly in John Glover and Kelley Rourke’s new opera Stay with On Site Opera, debut the role of Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw with IlluminArts and perform as a soloist in both Bernstein’s Songfest with the Seattle Symphony (COVID19) and George Crumb’s The River of Life with Orchestra 2001.
Ms. Williams made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the fall of 2019 as Maketaten in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten. She has also sung the role of Charlotte in Werther with both Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera. For the Birmingham Opera Company, she has performed as Katerina in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Dido in Dido and Aeneas and Hannah in Michael Tippett’s The Ice Break under the direction of Graham Vick. She debuted with the Washington National Opera as Elizabeth Keckley/Coretta Scott King in Philip Glass’ Appomattox, created the role of Yvette in the world premiere of Eric Sawyer’s The Garden of Martyrs with Live in Concert, Inc., debuted as Linda in Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars with the Glimmerglass Festival, and portrayed Mary/Pearl in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star with On Site Opera. She has also sung Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Sarasota Opera and the Northern Lights Music Festival, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Knoxville Opera, and Olga in Eugene Onegin with the Northern Lights Music Festival.
As a concert soloist, Ms. Williams has appeared with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra (Egypt), Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Springfield Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Projects, Virginia Symphony, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, New Jersey Master Chorale and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK) under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. She made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut under Yannick Nézet- Séguin in Bach’s Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150.
Lauded as a ‘mezzo-soprano of conscious’, Ms. Williams uses her vocal platform to unabashedly break stereotypes and be a voice for the voiceless. She continues to foster unity, peace and understanding through music via her duo Forrópera, created in 2016 with Brazilian composer and accordionist, Felipe Hostins. Her ingenuity and gifts have been acknowledged by numerous organizations; including the Classical Post (Classical Post Awards 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 2014 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition in Sweden. Ms. Williams has also received awards from the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation, Inc., the New England Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and was a winner of Astral Artists’ 2014 National Auditions, among others.
The Chrystal E. Williams Scholarship, in its twentieth year, was founded by Chrystal E. Williams in 2004 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 in the fall of 2023. She 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.