Adé Williams

Violinist Adé Williams is a two-time Sphinx Competition laureate (1st place, Junior Division, 2012; 2nd place, Senior Division, 2019). She has won numerous other competitions in the US and Europe, beginning at age eight, and has placed in several chamber music competitions.

Adé has enjoyed a thrilling solo career, from her debut with the Chicago Sinfonietta at age six to her concerts with over 50 orchestras including the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Detroit, Pittsburgh, New World, Indianapolis, and Nashville Symphonies, and Buffalo and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonics (South Africa) by age 18. Most recently, she made her debut with the Chineke! Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (2021). In 2017, Adé premiered Guardian of the Horizon: Concerto Grosso for Violin, Cello, and Strings by Jimmy Lopez, a work commissioned by Carnegie Hall and New World Symphony. The NY Concert Review praised her as “an absolute winning champion of the work.” Adé made her White House debut in 2015 and Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 where she has since returned five times. She has attended the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), the Astona International Music Festival (Switzerland), Cambridge International String Academy (England), and the Chautauqua Institution (US). 

She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she served as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and studied with Ida Kavafian. Prior to Curtis, Adé studied with Almita and Roland Vamos, Marko Dreher, and Rachel Barton Pine.

Adé Williams, 17, had John Corigliano’s impetuous “Red Violin Caprices” all to herself and played it stunningly. – NY Times

A Chicagoland wunderkind … known not only as a one-name performer but also as one singular sensation … played with a sweet tone and strength of character. – The Grand Rapids Press

 

Artist Underwritten by Lynne Nelson