Faculty & Staff

Brandon Williams
(he/him/his)
Director of Choral Activities
Associate Professor, Conducting
Music
Degrees & Accomplishments
DMA in Choral Conducting, Michigan State University
MME, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
BA in Music Education, Western Illinois University
Artist Teacher Diploma, Choral Music Experience–Institute for Choral Teacher Education
Early Career Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice
Topics of Expertise
Conducting Gesture
Choral Pedagogy
Biography
Brandon Williams is an associate professor and the director of Choral Activities at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he conducts the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir and the Rutgers Glee Club. Previously, he conducted the Rutgers Voorhees Choir, which was selected to perform at Carnegie Hall (2019) and Eastern ACDA (2020, 2024). Dr. Williams also appears internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, and presenter.
Dr. Williams amassed a decade of middle and high school teaching experience in St. Louis, Missouri, where he also served on the voice faculty at Maryville University and as a conductor with the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus and the St. Louis Children’s Choirs. His school ensembles received invitations to perform at the 2010 and 2013 Missouri Music Educators Association conventions, and his middle school ensemble was featured on GIA’s DVD “How to Make a Good Choir Sound Great!” Dr. Williams has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Missouri Choral Directors Association Prelude Award, an Outstanding Teacher Award from the University of Missouri-Columbia Honors College, the 2020–21 Rutgers Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovations, the Mason Gross Inclusive Community Faculty Award, and the 2021–22 Rutgers Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence Award.
Dr. Williams holds degrees from Western Illinois University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Michigan State University. He also completed an Artist Teacher Diploma from the Choral Music Experience–Institute for Choral Teacher Education. He is the editor of Choral Reflections: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teachers, and his writing appears in the Choral JournalMusic Educators Journal, and Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. Dr. Williams also edits The Brandon Williams Choral Series with Gentry Publications. His choral compositions and arrangements are published with Hal Leonard, G. Schirmer, Mark Foster, Colla Voce, Morningstar Publications, and MusicSpoke.