Dr. Kenyon Williams has worked throughout the United States as a professional performer, educator, arranger, and clinician. A graduate of Abilene Christian University, the Hartt School of Music, and the University of Kentucky, he has performed as a guest soloist and section member for numerous orchestras, including the Abilene Philharmonic (TX), the Louisville Symphony (KY), the Lexington Philharmonic (KY), and currently serves as Principal Percussionist for the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, he has taught at the secondary school level as well as at universities in Texas and Kentucky. Dr. Williams is currently the Director of Percussion Studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead where he maintains an active teaching and performing schedule and directs the acclaimed “Fuego Tropical” World Percussion Ensemble as well as hands-on world music ensembles in Trinidadian steel pan, Javanese gamelan, African drumming, Afro-Cuban salsa, and Brazilian samba. His interests have taken him abroad for extended studies in Ghana, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, and Trinidad, where he has performed with the legendary Invaders and Birdsong Steel Orchestras in Panorama. In the United States, he has taken his love for the music of the Caribbean to new levels by establishing, arranging, and performing for steel bands and Afro-Cuban ensembles in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota and Texas. Dr. Williams is a Yamaha Performing Artist and endorses Yamaha and Latin Percussion instruments, Innovative sticks and mallets, and Coyle Steel Drums, through which he has published numerous original arrangements and transcriptions. Dr. Williams is a member of the Board of Directors of the Percussive Arts Society, the largest professional body of percussionists in the world, and has served as a past chairman for the World Music Committee as well as Treasurer for the Minnesota Chapter of PAS. He also performs regularly with the “Varying Degrees” Percussion Trio and recently released a solo album of newly commissioned solo works for percussion entitled “Homage,” which is available on both iTunes and CDBaby.com.
