Dr. Barry Scott Williamson, Founder and Artistic Director of Vocali, has a long-standing reputation as one of America’s most dynamic conductors. In 1991, Williamson made his European conducting debut in Stuttgart, where he conducted the Gächinger Kantorei and Bach Collegium-Stuttgart in performances of Schubert’s A-Flat Major Mass and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor. Williamson’s conducting performances have elicited glowing praise from great artists such as Helmuth Rilling, Sylvia McNair, Walter Ducloux, Fiora Contino, Rose Taylor, and Julian Reed. Williamson has served on the choral faculties of the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, Trinity University, and the University of Texas at El Paso, the latter two as Director of Choral Activities, and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from UT-Austin in 1993. He has held conducting positions with the Austin Civic Chorus, Austin Lyric Opera, El Paso Pro-Musica, El Paso Symphony, El Paso Choral Artists (founder) and Pennyroyal Academy of Fine Arts, and has taught, performed, and guest-conducted extensively in the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and Mexico, including appearances with the Austrian American Mozart Academy, Liedertafel Dachau, Chor Weidling, the orchestras of the Texas Choral Consort, the UTEP Chamber and Symphony Orchestras, Austin Sinfonietta, Bach Collegium-Stuttgart, and the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Musicians and audiences alike are drawn to his musical passion and inspiring interpretations of a wide variety of choral-orchestral-operatic repertoire.
As founding Artistic/Executive Director of the Texas Choral Consort in Austin (1997–2007), Maestro Williamson engineered a rich palette of choral performances and educational events featuring biannual community choral symposiums, 55- and 20-voice auditioned ensembles, international performance tours, CD/DVD recordings and recital–master class events. In April of 2002, Maestro Williamson and the TCC traveled to Ireland, where they combined for performances of Messiah with the Galway Choral Association and Our Lady’s Choral Society and Orchestra of St. Cecilia (Dublin). In March 2004, the TCC’s auditioned choir traveled to Europe for a 17-day tour of Germany, Austria, and Italy, presenting a varied program of choral works predominantly in the English language. Most recently, Williamson led the TCC in July 2006 for their first international choral symposium in Wales, where they joined with the Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society and Welsh Sinfonia for a thrilling performance of Mozart’s Requiem. Since his return to Austin in March 2009 after two years of church and professional choral work in the Pennyroyal region of western Kentucky, Dr. Williamson’s work now is devoted to the founding and formation of Central Texas’ newest choral organization, Vocali. Vocali’s most important performance will be the June 19 world premiere of three new major works by Austin composer Patricia M. Long.