Performing “8 Minatures for Chamber Ensemble” by Stefan Cwik

An emerging name in the Bay Area music scene, flutist Michael Williams performs in a wide variety of musical settings from chamber to orchestral to the more experimental.  He has given world premier performances of works by Jonathan Russell, Richard Warp, Max Stoffregen, Luciano Chessa, Damon Waitkus, Nicholas Pavkovic, and Stefan Cwik. Michael is a frequent performer in the Switchboard Music Festival and Hot Air Music Festival. This past fall, Michael was featured in the program Brain Fitness: Peak Performance, a documentary that aired nationally on PBS on how specialized training and proficiency can improve overall cognitive performance.Michael began his musical training in Denver, Colorado and is a graduate of the Denver School of the Arts. He holds a B.M. degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with San Francisco Symphony principal flutist Timothy Day. He has served as co-principal flute of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra and joined the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for their 2007-2008 season and European tour. Regarding a performance of Stravinsky’s Song of the Nightingale with the SFSYO, San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman wrote, “The spotlight shone most brightly on flutist Michael Williams, who impersonated the avian title character with a stream of sweet but nicely potent birdsong.” While at the Conservatory, Michael was an active member of the Conservatory Orchestra, Chamber Music program and Conservatory Baroque Ensemble. He was a featured soloist with the Baroque Ensemble on numerous occasions and was a winner of the 2009 Conservatory Baroque Ensemble Concerto Competition. He led the ensemble in a performance of CPE Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Flute and Strings. In June of 2010, Michael performed Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring for 13 Instruments under the baton of Alasdair Neale with members of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera orchestras as part of the Conservatory’s annual gala. His other teachers include Alexa Still, international soloist and professor at the Sydney Conservatorium, and Catherine Lum-Peterson of the Colorado Symphony. He has performed in master classes with Carol Wincenc, Paula Robison, Keith Underwood, Jeffrey Zook, Martha Aarons, Jill Felber, Christina Jennings and Gro Sandvic as well as renowned baritone William Sharp and baroque oboist Debra Nagey. Mr. Williams greatly enjoys teaching and currently has a private studio at the Sunset Academy of Music in San Francisco.