BIOGRAPHY

Baritone Jorell Williams, known for having “a solid vocal core and easy, natural production” (Opera News), and “a deliciously resonant baritone voice” (Broadway World) has been heralded as “a rock-solid singer with a keen understanding of his own expressive depths” (The Washington Post), is gracing the world’s most prominent concert and opera stages. 

The 2024-2025 season for Jorell Williams features the world premiere of compositions and arrangements for Soprano Leah Hawkins' (2024 Beverly Sills Award Winner) Park Avenue Armory Concert Series Recital, followed by the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) for "My Brother’s Keeper" at The Kauffman Center. He will debut with Manitoba Opera as Belcore in L'elisir d’amore and take on the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Columbus. Additional season highlights include performances with the American Modern Opera Company in Doug Balliett's Rome is Falling at Alice Tully Hall, returning to the National Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah, and the Omaha Symphony in Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Williams will also perform Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with Choir St-Laurent at La Maison Symphonique in Montreal, QC, and headline Kentucky Opera’s season-opening Fannie Lou Hamer Tribute Concert.

The 2023-2024 season showcases Mr. Williams in debut engagements with Opera Omaha, Greek National Opera, Catapult Opera, Symphony Nova Scotia, The Ottawa Choral Society, and The Canadian Art Song Project, with returns to the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Tapestry Opera. A Native of Brentwood, NY, Jorell made his Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon’s critically acclaimed Intimate Apparel in January 2022 (co-production with The Metropolitan Opera / filmed for PBS Great Performances). 

His career has brought him on tour with the Mark Morris Dance Company, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chorale Le Chateau, American Modern Ensemble, and Essential Voices USA. He had the honor to perform with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in A Celebration of America at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the occasion of the first Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, as well as the European premiere of Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass at the Barbican during the 2012 Olympics in London. Mr. Williams has also worked alongside some of today’s most versatile artists, including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Damien Sneed, Jon Batiste, David Lang, and most recently, Jennifer Higdon for her 2017 Grammy nominated World Premiere Opera Cold Mountain with the Santa Fe Opera.

Jorell has won awards from organizations such as The Jensen Foundation, The Gerda Lissner International Competition, The Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, The American Traditions Competition, The Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, Harlem Opera Theater Competition, The National Association of Negro Musicians [NAMN], The Liberace Foundation, The Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Competition, The American Prize, Civic Morning Musicals Competition, David Adams Art Song Competition, The Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition, and the Rochester Classical Idol XII Prize. 

His training includes participation in programs such as the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Caramoor Bel Canto Program, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Songfest at Colburn, and Westchester Vocal Institute. He holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music (MM) and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music (BM).