"Williams has a musical language all his own.
It brims with vernacular American optimism…"
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Williams has a musical language all his own.
It brims with vernacular American optimism…"
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Williams has a musical language all his own.
It brims with vernacular American optimism…"
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Williams has a musical language all his own.
It brims with vernacular American optimism…"
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR. is an American composer, artistic producer, music director, and cultural curator who uses his art to advocate, educate and inspire.
Check out Nolan's new musical that captures a day in the life of the Mintons, heirs of a century-old Philadelphia restaurant
Learn more about Nolan's touring theatrical concert production illuminating the Civil Rights Movement for new audiences
Discover the history behind Nolan's new musical (in development) about the contested congressional election of 1964
This two-part video series, conceived and directed by Nolan and featuring American theatre performer Kevin McAllister and inspirational artist Monique Steele Griffiths, honors the American tradition of #PeacefulTransition. Click here for more information.
Check out Nolan's first national commercial gig, appearing alongside celebrity chef Carla Hall.
Nolan's star-studded voting rights anthem and video
- Over 1.2 million views to date -
I Have A Right To Vote is a non-partisan pop anthem and music video purposed to: a) raise awareness around voter suppression, b) encourage voter education and registration, and c) increase voter motivation leading up to the 2020 national election. Composed and video directed by Nolan Williams, Jr., I Have A Right To Vote features a host of celebrities speaking the words of several voting rights icons, including: BillIe Jean King, Billy Porter, Chef Carla Hall, Christopher Jackson (from the original cast of HAMILTON), Hill Harper, Ebony Jo-Ann, and Ryan Jamaal Swain (POSE). The video also features the national touring company of STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA (Williams' theatrical concert production from which the song is drawn), cameos by luminaries like businesswoman Sheila C. Johnson, and everyday citizens at iconic places across the country—from New York’s Times Square to Milwaukee’s Art Museum, and from the “Rocky” Steps in Philadelphia to the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles—all affirming their right to vote!
Click here for more information and here for media inquiries.
If you like Nolan's "I Have A Right To Vote" Anthem, check out other projects produced as part of the WOKE! digital arts campaign, including an art exhibition featuring works by students from the Art Institutes of Atlanta, Virginia Beach, & Miami and curriculum curated with the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
In 2019, Nolan was named a Social Practice Resident at The Kennedy Center REACH. His focal project has been the development of STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA, his theatrical concert production that highlights seminal moments of the modern Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. Click here to view the gallery of images that chronicle his residency.
Nolan is chief music editor of the bestselling African American Heritage Hymnal. Released by GIA Publications in 2001, this landmark compilation has sold nearly 500K copies worldwide. Nolan is also associate editor of Total Praise, the 2012 hymnal developed for the eight-million-member National Baptist Convention, USA, and third-most cont
Nolan is chief music editor of the bestselling African American Heritage Hymnal. Released by GIA Publications in 2001, this landmark compilation has sold nearly 500K copies worldwide. Nolan is also associate editor of Total Praise, the 2012 hymnal developed for the eight-million-member National Baptist Convention, USA, and third-most contributing arranger of Lead Me, Guide Me - Second Edition, an African American Catholic hymnal (2012).
Nolan's honors include: Playwright, 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays (2020); 2019-20 Kennedy Center Social Practice Residency; 2019 Arts Advocacy Award, Kennedy Center National Committee for the Performing Arts; Roe Green Playwright, 2018 Cleveland Play House New Ground Theatre Festival; 2017 W.E.B. Du Bois Arts & Education Awa
Nolan's honors include: Playwright, 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays (2020); 2019-20 Kennedy Center Social Practice Residency; 2019 Arts Advocacy Award, Kennedy Center National Committee for the Performing Arts; Roe Green Playwright, 2018 Cleveland Play House New Ground Theatre Festival; 2017 W.E.B. Du Bois Arts & Education Award; 2013 honorary Doctor of Music, Richmond Virginia Seminary; 2012 American Cancer Society Award; 2012 Genius4Men Award.
A creative innovator, Nolan has a long history of developing multifaceted programming that pairs performance, educational and visual arts projects with social impact initiatives. Click below to learn more about his curations from 2010 to present day.
An American composer with songwriting credits on two Grammy-nominated projects and numerous commissions, Nolan's eclectic library of original compositions and arrangements includes rousing symphonic and choral works, inspirational and popular songs, and music for stage and television.
"Star-studded Music Video Highlight Voting Rights" (9/18/20)
"I want to spend the rest of my days exploring music and the arts in ways that bridge communities and that speak inconvenient truths and that challenge and press us towards being our better selves — as individuals, as communities, as a nation."
GRACE, centered on the history and legacy of African American food traditions [is] the fourth musical created by Williams, who grew up in the District and has pursued an eclectic career...
Williams, the [Let Freedom Ring] celebration’s musical director for the past 17 years, ...[announced] his STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA tour, a Civil Rights-themed production... The night ended with [a] ...musical tribute featuring... 10-time-Grammy-winner Chaka Khan.
“[GRACE] was inspired when I started looking at food traditions, the way those traditions shape family and community and the way persons who migrated from enslavement in the South made their way north and discovered that their food was an economic commodity. ...I’m fascinated by that history...”
[Williams has had] an eclectic career of scoring and producing music for television, editing hymnals, programming for diplomatic and cultural institutions, conducting orchestras and choruses... and composing and arranging.
Electrifying. Awakening. These are words to describe the heart-rending workshop presentation of STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA performed at Studio K at The REACH. To call it anything less would be just plain wrong.
The annual festival, the nation’s leading incubator for new play development, is a longstanding cultural highlight for theatre lovers, artists and producers from across the country.
Williams has channeled [his] varied passions into a catalogue that spans genres...
A powerful new musical premiered in a staged reading by composer/ playwright Nolan Williams, Jr., September 25 in Washington, DC...
DEVINE HAMER GRAY
The Philadelphia Community Mass is Williams’ baby, a multi-composer work that uses the Bernstein Mass as its general inspiration. It was impressive a few months ago at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. And here, sporting new orchestrations by Williams, ...[it] had even greater impact.
The focus is on Leonard Bernstein and his "advocacy for social justice, particularly the way in which he leveraged the platforms that he had in order to extend opportunities to a diverse group of artists..."
Philly astronaut Bluford gets his props at the Mann - and a soaring orchestral number in his honor...
Williams has a musical language all his own. It brims with vernacular American optimism.
Like so many artists around the globe, Nolan's work has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Nolan had the opportunity to share his candid thoughts with Michael Brodeur, classical music critic for The Washington Post. Here's a link to the article, published on April 9, 2020.
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