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About

Mattea Williams

Mattea Williams (She/her) is an African American composer from California's bay area.

Williams began playing piano at the age of 7. After writing the music for her class play in the 8th grade, she developed a fascination for composition. Paired with her additional passion for reading and storytelling, Williams uses a combination of extended techniques, found objects and mixed media sounds in her music; blending colors and timbres to create vivid imagery and tell stories based on themes of adventure, magic, horror and afrofuturism.

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In spring of 2019, Williams received her BA degree from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music where she studied composition with piano as her primary instrument. She went to earn her Master’s degree in music from the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music where she continued her composition studies and graduated in Spring 2021. 

 

Williams now works as a professional composer and elementary school music teacher. She has also worked as the composer in residence for the official concert band of San Francisco, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band. 

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It is important to her to write and publish grade level pieces in addition to her other projects so that young musicians have access to repertoire by a living black woman composer. She hopes her music will help to encourage continued participation of black youth in classical music traditions. 

Williams strives to create captivating and imaginative narratives in her pieces and encourages listeners to immerse themselves in her sonic worlds. She is interested in writing for various mediums including films, video games and other collaborative projects. Performances of her works include premiers by the Baldwin Wallace Treble Choir on a collaborative concert with the Spellman Glee Choir at the 2019 Ohio Music Education Conference, the Butler School New Music Ensemble (2019) and the Mt. Kenya Academy String Orchestra in Kenya, Africa (2019).
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