Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma welcomes Pianist Joseph Williams Jan 2021

On January 19, 2021, Tacoma pianist Joseph Williams offers "a guided music-meditation".

Joe Williams, pianist

The video will be available from January 19th onward at www.youtube.com/classicaltuesdays and www.facebook.com/classicaltues

Joe is assisted by dancer Celeste Reed; filming will take place at Lakewold Gardens with Serena Berry behind the camera.

Joseph Williams is a celebrator, artistic director, producer, teacher, advocate, pianist and coach. With the support of Lakewold Gardens, Williams founded Music from Home in 2019. The mission of this concert series is to celebrate the live musical expression of womxn and people of color. As artistic director, he is intent on supporting the work of numerous living composers, under-resourced performing artists, and arts institutions authentically committed to anti-racism, equity and belonging. Last summer, Music from Home proudly sponsored mezzo-soprano J’nai Bridges’ appearance at a fundraising event for Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center. T.U.P.A.C.’s goal is to provide our most deserving racially and socioeconomically diverse youth with world class opportunities to achieve Artistic Excellence in the performing arts. He recently provided musical performances for a fundraising event on behalf of the International Florence Price Festival.

In 2018 he founded Tukwila Kids Make Music, a free after-school music instruction program situated in the most diverse zip code in the country. Williams regularly judges regional Washington Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble Contests and is looking forward to judging this year’s Houston Forum Jazz Competition. He has presented piano masterclasses at Seattle University, Jackson State University and Canadian University Dubai. He has presented guest lectures at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Community College, Lorain County Community College and University of California, Irvine. In addition to being a coach and pianist for Portland Opera’s Resident Artist Program, he also assists with curation and teaches a course focusing entirely on operas and art songs written by Black composers.

Joe has performed at venues across the country, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and abroad in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. He has performed on numerous series highlighting composers of African descent: Celebrating Art/ists of the African Diaspora curated by Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney, 253 SOULfood sessions curated by Kellie Richardson, Sundae Sermon: A Celebration of Black Folks curated by Chevon Powell, Renaissance & Remembrance: A Musical Celebration of Black History curated by Stephanie Ann Ball, Opera... From a Sistah's Point of View curated by Angela Brown, and Let the Strings Speak Love curated by Mona Terry & Lesa Terry. In 2017, he was invited to perform at Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, NY. This beautiful organization connects and supports professional classical musicians of African descent and enlightens and inspires communities through the power of performance. He is a member of the International Society for Black Musicians.

In 2020, Williams was honored to produce a docu-concert featuring pianist and scholar Dr. William Chapman Nyaho. This film explores Nyaho’s most recent album “Kete” as well as his monumental 5 volume anthology “Piano Music from Africa and the African Diaspora.” Featured contributors include Music Teachers National Association President Martha Hilley and distinguished scholar Dr. Kofi Agawu, among others. He then served as creative director for “A Long Way from Home,” a docu-concert examining the subject of African-American spirituals in an art song context. He appears in “Still Dreaming: Frances Walker at 93,” a documentary which chronicles the life of his beloved late mentor, legendary pianist Frances Walker-Slocum. He is a juror for the 2021 Seattle Black Film Festival.

SERENA BERRY is an award winning independent filmmaker and producer from Tacoma, Washington. She holds a BA in Communications from the University of Washington-Tacoma. Serena has been working in independent cinema Pacific Northwest for nearly a decade. Her debut short film Shards was shown at HollyShorts Film Festival and won Best Narrative Short at the Synimatica Short Film Festival. Before penning Shards she worked as a freelance producer for PBS affiliate KCTS9 as well as multiple projects for Puget Sound non-profits organizations such as the Museum of Glass, America’s Car Museum and the Hilltop Artist Program . Her goal has always been to create stories that often don’t get told about real people.

CELESTE REED is an artist native to Tacoma, Washington. She is a dancer, performer, and teacher. Her earliest years of formal dance are influenced by the YMCA and Tacoma School of the Arts. In 2018, Reed earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance from the University of Utah. Reed is passionate about the moving body--its functionality and beauty--and its political position in society. She is also deeply interested in the healing powers of movement. This year you might find her teaching dance to Tacoma youth and making work with her fellow creatives. You might also find her dancing in her yard or at a park or on a sidewalk, just because it feels good to move. You'll never find her eating an orange.

A video recording of Joe's Classical Tuesdays performance will be available January 19, 2021 onwards. at:

www.youtube.com/classicaltuesdays and
www.facebook.com/classicaltues/

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