Joan Franks Williams

Joan Franks Williams (April 1, 1930 – January 30, 2003) was an American composer.

Life Joan Franks Williams was born in Brooklyn, on April 1, 1930 to her father, Harold Franks, and her mother. Both of her parents enjoyed classical music, leading Williams to absorb the world of classical music through piano and viola lessons and frequent attendance to live concerts and performances. She attended the High School of Music and the Arts in Manhattan and continued with music into her college studies. Williams earned a bachelor's in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music in 1952, and a Bachelor's and master's degrees from the Manhattan School of Music 1961. While still in New York, she met her future husband Irving Williams on a blind date in Manhattan; suitingly, they enjoyed a live symphonic performance followed by dinner. Joann married Irving in 1954, and moved to Seattle with her family in 1962.

In Seattle, she founded New Dimensions in Music (NDM), a non-profit organization that was one of the early and most influential promoters of new music in the Pacific Northwest. As a part of NDM she also established the first electronic music studio in Seattle. In 1971, the Williams family moved to Tel Aviv in Israel. Williams continued the NDM live concert series of contemporary concert music alongside contemporary radio broadcasting through the Israel Broadcasting Authority, making her responsible for all the contemporary chamber music radio being broadcast within the country. Within the concert series, over 150 pieces by 100 different composers were performed, Upon moving to Seattle, she was responsible for establishing the first electronic music studio within the city and lectured at the New School of Music regarding contemporary composition, writing, and production.

In addition to the New Dimensions in Music Concert series, Williams also initiated the Israeli Composers Plus One Concert Series during her 17 years abroad. These concert programs included music specifically written to feature audience participation; an element that had influenced her compositional works greatly. Several of her works incorporate acting, improvisation, and staging such as Shimshon Hagibor, a ‘mini comic melodrama written in 1975 (translates to Samson the Hero/the Mighty). Her 1974/1975 piece, Frogs features a recorded tape of frogs croaking in the courtyard of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Williams enhanced the Israeli avant-garde at the time, not only as a radio producer, but also through her uncommon and slightly humorous interpretation of the avant-garde in her own works.

Works She wrote over thirty pieces, around twenty of them while she was in Israel. Her works include mostly chamber music, some of her most famous include:

From Paterson (Text: William Carlos Williams) Kassandra (1963) Haiku (chamber, 1969) Haiku (orchestra, 1972) Frogs (vocal-chamber, tape, 1974) Samson the Hero (vocal-chamber, tape 1975) You too, Brutus! (mezzo solo, 1976) Rudolph Heinemann in Bonn (trombone, 1978) Sevenths to Eight (1979) The Love of Therese du Meun (voice, piano, viola, 1980) Song of Songs (1983) Leah (1986)

“Credited with bringing contemporary music to Seattle in the 1960s.” Making sure to include her audience members within the concert experience, she produced a performance of a sculptor building a box around audience members. The instruments featured and resembled the hammer's thud as it struck nails and the clank of wooden boards through percussive elements from wind, brass, and percussion instruments. Another composition mixed an orchestra performance with ambient sounds of the city and a bus that transported the musicians. Another, Frogs, premiered on opening night of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in 1974. A composition in atonal style, it included frogs croaking, sung haikus and instruments.

Awards and recognition Source: Credited with bringing contemporary concert music and performance to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest Bachelor's in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music Bachelor's and master's degrees from the Manhattan School of Music Founder of the non-profit organization, New Dimensions in Music (NDM) to promote new contemporary music in Seattle and continued to pursue and promote in Israel along with the Israel Broadcasting Authority Established first electronic music studio in Seattle Credited with bringing contemporary concerts and new music to Israel and the Israeli community through NDM and the Israel Broadcasting Authority Represented Israel at the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) World Music Days in Europe four times, and served on ISCM's international jury