Soprano Valerie Williams has been acclaimed by reviewers as "dazzling" and a singer of "great skill" for her performance of The Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. She has performed the Queen for several companies including Kitsap Opera, Central Washington University Opera and Seattle Opera Previews. Possessing a voice of surprising richness with a crystalline high extension, Ms. Williams is ideally suited for the challenging role.
On the concert stage, Valerie recently performed the Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 with guitarist, Rick Cox. Her other oratorio repertoire includes Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate, Händel's Messiah and Carmina Burana. A strong proponent of contemporary American art song, Ms. Williams presented several concerts in 2004 featuring the work of living composers such as Ned Rorem, Dominick Argento and Libby Larsen.
Equally at home in the recording studio, Valerie Williams was recently heard on KING FM's "Live with George" singing selections from Händel's Messiah. As an early member of innovative Mp3.com, Valerie's recordings were extremely popular, reaching number one in the opera and classical vocal genre charts several times and receiving over seventy thousand downloads.
While earning a Bachelor of Music degree cum laude from Central Washington University, Valerie worked and coached with pioneering jazz educator, John Moawad. She sang lead soprano for his Vocal Jazz Ensemble when the choir won 1st Place in the West Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival in Berkeley, CA, recorded the album, In a Mellow Tone and performed with jazz great, Dizzy Gillespie.
Valerie first gained national attention while singing lead soprano for the female, vocal jazz quartet, Sudden Touch. The vocal group was featured on the cover of the Jazz Educator's Journal after being selected as one of six groups nationwide to perform at the First Collegiate Jazz Festival at Epcot Center in Florida.
A published writer, Valerie recently was invited to present two workshops at the 2005 Classical Singer Convention in New York City along with other nationally known clinicians after the publication of her articles in Classical Singer Magazine. Also in 2005, she contributed to the acclaimed book,
This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women Across America.
In addition to singing and teaching, Valerie also enjoys reading, the internet and web design. She makes a home with her husband, drummer Garey Williams and their children in the beautiful Puget Sound area of Washington State.
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