Denise Williams (she/her)
BSc, MA, ARCT

Singer, Voice Teacher, Music Facilitator, Artistic Producer

www.denisewilliamssoprano.com

Antiguan-born, Denise Williams is an established professional singer, voice teacher, concert producer and music facilitator.  She holds a BSc from the University of Toronto, an A.R.C.T. Diploma in Singing Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a Master’s degree in Community Music from Wilfrid Laurier University.  She also studied Early Childhood Music Education and Kodaly Pedagogy at The Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as Arts and Entertainment Administration at the Toronto Metropolitan University.  

 

Denise is a passionate advocate for the performing arts, leveraging her extensive professional experience and educational background to promote artistic expression and education. With a belief in the transformative power of music and the arts to bridge societal divides, Denise has dedicated her career to nurturing talent, fostering inclusivity, and promoting cultural understanding.

 

Denise’s 30+ year international career has put her at home on the concert, opera, and theatre stages. Highlights of her solo work include appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (Founding Member), and Mirvish Productions (North American premiere of ’The Sound of Music’). Her stage experience includes the Canadian debuts of Portia White First you Dream (Eastern Front Theatre, and Theatre Northwest), along with solo concerts in major venues in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. Her most well-loved self-produced music project is her cross-cultural, Walk Together Children concert program, uniting African and Jewish diasporic cultures through music which has been presented for many audiences including CBC Radio’s Music Around Us, SpringWorks Festival (Stratford, ON). Most recently, she has added Muslim cultural music intersections as a commentary on commonalities of forcibly migrant cultures and diasporas, musical assimilations, and attempts at bridging social gaps. This concert of musical intersectionality was performed with funding from the Ontario Arts Council, in collaboration with professional artists of these cultures and the Jubilate Singers at the Meridian Centre for the Arts. 

 

In addition to her achievements as a performer, Denise is also dedicated to arts education and community engagement. Her community music leadership contributions have included preschool and afterschool programs for the Toronto District School Board, private schools, and diverse music programs in retirement homes, choral directing, and choral workshops (CAMMAC, The Jubilate Singers, Common Thread Choirs, and The UT Scarborough Concert Choir), and has been a juror for OAC and FACTOR arts councils.  She has also been involved in international community music symposia addressing Music and Social Intervention, Music Collaboration Across Difference (York, St John University, UK), and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Level Education (Wilfrid Laurier University).

 

Denise is Founding Artistic Director and Producer of No Strings Theatre (NST) which aids Next Generation emerging artists to practice their stagecraft and encourages the development of untold Canadian stories. She is currently on the music theatre voice faculty of Sheridan College (since 2018), operates her Voices of Colour Music (VCM) music studio (since 1990), is a certified advanced voice teacher affiliate and examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music (since 2000), and a national vocal adjudicator (since 1999).

 

Her professional memberships include The Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association (Immediate Past President of the Central Toronto Branch), The National Association for Teachers of Singing, as well as ACTRA and CAEA. Denise has also recently been appointed on the Board of Directors of the Elora Festival and Elora Singers. 

 

As an executive member of the Central Toronto Branch of ORMTA, Denise has participated in the auditions, vocal and composer masterclasses, has been a co-convenor of the Teachers in Concert Recitals, and funds an annual scholarship for a student’s performance of Black composers works.

Denise’s newest performance project is MELANATTÉ, a fusion of Classical and Romantic hits with a modern Black context, in collaboration with its brainchild, Rapsodius. She continues to advocate, through international performance and community leadership, for addressing cross-cultural sharing of music traditions and equity, diversity, and inclusion, on performance stages.

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Denise's website