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Gregory T. Williams

Associate Principal Clarinet and E-flat Clarinet, Ray and Doris Mithun Chair

Gregory T. Williams joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2006 as associate principal clarinet and E-flat clarinet, and he made his first solo appearances with the ensemble in 2007, performing Debussy’s Première rapsodie. In March 2014 he was named acting principal clarinet.

He has made numerous appearances in the Orchestra's chamber music series since joining the ensemble, including notable performances of Mozart’s Piano Quintet and Gran Partita Serenade, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, the Schoenberg Wind Quintet and Villa-Lobos’ Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon.

Before arriving in Minnesota, Williams served as principal clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony for three of his four years with that ensemble. He held the principal chair in the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra during the summers of 2005 and 2006 and has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and the Aspen Festival Orchestra, in the latter as second and E-flat clarinet fellow, from 1998 to 2000. From 2012 to 2014, he performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, as well as the Boston, Cincinnati and San Antonio symphonies. During the 2022-23 season, he was invited to perform as guest principal clarinet with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for several concerts in St. Louis as well as on their European Tour.

In 1999 Williams graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he studied with Paul Garritson and Edward Dolbashian while earning a bachelor of music degree in clarinet performance. He received a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, where he was a student of Joaquin Valdepenas, and has pursued doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with Richie Hawley.

Williams has taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Washburn University in Topeka. In his spare time he enjoys traveling and road biking. He lives in Plymouth with his wife, Minnesota Orchestra oboist Julie Gramolini Williams and their daughter.