Department of Music
Melanie Williams
Dr. Melanie Williams, soprano, enjoys an active performing career in the southeastern United States and beyond. Williams earned the MM and the DMA in vocal performance at Louisiana State University, where she studied with Metropolitan Opera soprano Martino Arroyo and New York City Opera tenor Robert Grayson. She has sung numerous roles with opera companies throughout the southeast, including Papagena in Opera Birmingham’s Die Zauberflöte and Berta in the company’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Her numerous leading roles with Alabama OperaWorks include Monica in The Medium, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, “The Girl” in Hello, Out There, Valerie in The Cabildo, and the title role in Savitri. She will sing the title role in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Iolanthe with the company in May of 2007.
Williams' concert appearances include engagements with the Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama Symphonies, and she has twice traveled to England as soprano soloist for the International Cathedral Music Festival. She also maintains an active recital schedule, with a faculty recital to be presented at UM in January, followed by other performances around the southeast. A member of the UM voice faculty since 1998, Williams has enjoyed teaching several students who regularly perform in productions on campus and in the Birmingham area, and who have been recognized for their talents by such organizations as NATS, Birmingham Music Club, and Bush Hills Music Club. Several present and former students have been accepted into summer apprenticeship programs in the United States and Europe, as well as into respected graduate music programs. In addition to applied voice, Williams teaches vocal pedagogy and diction courses. She also serves as the Governor of the Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).