Kamyron Williams

Cellist | Educator | Arts-Leader

While cellist Kamyron Williams has performed on stages across the Midwest and New England, he has become known for his focus on social change. His performance résumé highlights his commitment to social causes. With Palaver Strings, he collaborated with guest artists from Maine’s immigrant communities during a 2019 tour “Welcome Home” and has released two albums “Ready or Not” and “A Change is Gonna Come”; With Exigence Vocal Ensemble, he premiered the SATB arrangement of “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” and with ArcaSōnica, he performed in the diversity-focused Ypsilanti Freight House concert series. During quarantine, he brought music to the elderly through the Ann Arbor Camerata’s “Doorstep Serenades.” Kamyron’s impactful work has been featured on PBS’s “American Black Journal,” NPR Michigan Radio, The Providence Journal, Represent Classical, and The Boston Globe.

Much of Kamyron’s personal mission formed while working with the Sphinx Organization, both as a performer and as the Audience Development Coordinator, where he tackled the challenges of equity, attendance, and enthusiasm that classical music still struggles to overcome.

As a result, Kamyron began building infrastructure with future generations of underrepresented musicians in mind. As host of the radio show and podcast Voices Unheard, he spotlights underrepresented composers, overlooked repertoire, and those making a difference in local communities through music. Seeking to have a similar impact as an artist, he co-founded the artist collective EnRoot, which performs, commissions, and teaches music that celebrates its members’ Black and Latinx heritage. The collective made its performance debut at New York City’s DiMenna Center and completed a Community-Based Residency workshop at the New England Conservatory. As a performer, Kamyron is a Cellist and Co-Artistic director of Palaver Strings, a musician-led chamber orchestra and nonprofit organization based in Portland, ME.

If not for a middle school friend wanting to take an orchestra class by himself, Kamyron may have yet to pick up a cello. Though it was luck that got him started, the mentorship and opportunities he received thereafter have shaped his career, fueling his passion for education. He was a Resident-Musician at Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Island where he taught and led young musicians, and brought El Sistema-style classical music instruction to Michigan classrooms as a Michigan Artist Citizen. He also mentored students in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Youth Ensembles and Crescendo Detroit.

Kamyron strives to create spaces where art, community, and humanity intersect. His recent performances and collaborations include the Looking Glass Arts Center, Julius Eastman’s “The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc,” Daniel Bernard Roumain's “Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna”, Palaver Strings’ “A Change is Gonna Come” (Azica Records), the Providence Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading, PVD Cello Fest, Tanglewood Music Center (TLI), Boston Public Library’s Revolutionary Music Series, the MusicWorks Collective Around Town and Songs of Refuge.

Kamyron holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (B.M.) and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance (M.M. and Specialist Degree). When not on the road, he makes his home in the West End neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.