Peter Thoresen’s zoom call with Jorrell Williams and his daughter.
I had the pleasure interviewing Brooklyn-born baritone Jorell Williams. I opened the Zoom room from my apartment in Washington Heights, and Williams joined from his home in Toronto. Our call began as he was settling his 2-year-old daughter onto his lap. She’d just finished lunch.
Williams and I quickly identify our mutuals—as we singer folk so frequently do upon meeting—and I ask him about his most recent performance—a donor event:
“It was a garden party was in Victoria, British Columbia. And it was for Pacific Opera Victoria. I was taking the summer off, and I got asked to do this last minute. They have a new artistic director—Brenna Corner, who I’ve worked with at Kentucky Opera. She just took over the artistic director position in Victoria. She asked me to come in and sing for some new donors.”
I’m taken by Williams’s mention of taking a summer-off, noting that he’s on our Zoom call—at home—with his young daughter. Singers on Williams’s trajectory are so frequently making the rounds (and usually separated from family) at summer opera and concert festivals. He speaks vehemently about his purposeful summer off:
“If you have a family that you take care of or a partnership to take care of and co-parenting, it is your responsibility to do so. Anything less than that in my life, as long as you are available, is a failure. And I’m not willing to accept defeat. And if that means adjusting my career, and case in point, over the summer, then I cancel several contracts, and these are not contracts that most people would cancel. I knew in January when we [Williams and his wife, Canadian mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais] had to kind of reassess our schedule, and like me being home after being on the road for six months, I said I need a mental break. Not because I couldn’t sing the stuff—this is stuff that I do, but I need to be home for a summer for the first time in 20 years. I’ve been working nonstop without a vacation since I was age 15. I’m 40 now. I’ve never taken a spring break. I always worked, so it took me 25 years to say my summer vacation is gonna be my ass is home. The only difference is I gotta take this one to the park [Williams looks affectionally at his daughter], and that’s a job in itself. This is the most expensive, self-worth, explorative adventure, but it, it is totally worth it.”
Williams’s bio provides easy evidence of his robust work ethic and reputation as an artist with strong and nimble chops, performing in diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart’s titular Figaro to Jennifer Higdon’s world premiere opera Cold Mountain, and on tour with the likes of Mark Morris Dance Company and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. It should come as no surprise that the birth of their daughter came mid contract. Williams is kind (or at least humors me) when I interject with the contracts and contractions pun that I promise to put in this article’s title:
“I was in the middle of a dress rehearsal for Le Nozze di Figaro. We finished the act two finale and my phone rang, on cue, at 4:10 PM, and my wife is like, ‘I’m going to the hospital.’ So I get my stuff, went and got her bags and then went to the hospital, and then the doctor came, and she was like, ‘Oh, I was supposed to see Le Nozze tonight, but you know, I’m on call here and I’m your doctor, but my daughter and I are going to see Salome tomorrow.’ And my wife goes, ‘You know, my husband’s supposed to be in that show,’ and the doctor says, ‘He’s not going to work tomorrow.’”
This feels like a good place in our conversation to ask Williams if he practices a wellness routine amid the pressures of show business and fatherhood. Williams considers the question from the perspective of family and his upbringing, and speaks glowingly about his family, and uses the word kindness synonymously with wellness:
“I learned early on. I grew up playing piano in church and singing in church with my parents. My mom was a church singer, my dad was a church singer, and they met singing together. And my dad is actually a very well revered, respected, legendary R&B and folk singer. His name is James Williams senior, to me, but people know him as D TRAIN [a well-known American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer, and actor]. And it’s so weird because, you know, you think of the reality of the enterprise that we work in as far as like classical music, musical theater, maybe we sing country music in American song, but he was trained classically, but he doesn’t do that. And now he’s still performing. And it’s just weird to me that like everyone for years [would ask] ‘Why don’t you sing a song with your dad?’ I’m just like, what would we sing together? Ombra mai fu?
Williams laughs about this possible Handel duet with his father as his own daughter looks up at him from his lap. He continues:
“And sometimes he’ll joke around, and he’ll break out his tenor voice and I’m like, “Dad, this is disrespectful now. Stop it. It’s like—you don’t do this, and you just pop that out like that?!” We were raised pretty much just to be a good person—and part of that is also my grandmother. She was a counselor for year 30 plus years for City of Brooklyn, New York. And it was very much a be kind or else scenario—like we didn’t have any other option than to be kind because of the racial disparity—based on the opportunities that presented. And or because of the fact, when someone was not kind, you watch the consequences unfold…so it was very easy for me to formulate this idea into my own personality.
I’m asked all the time, how do you keep an even keel mindset when you’re constantly dealing with gatekeepers or you’re constantly dealing with opportunities that have been promised to you that never happened. And I’m kinda like, well those things are just falsities. They don’t really matter until they matter. Because if an opportunity is supposed to happen, it happens. I’m not supposed to know why something didn’t happen. What I’m supposed to know on a given day is today I’m supposed to travel to do this thing that I know that I’m doing. That’s my responsibility. And even more so than that is when I’m contacted for something, I immediately read the contract. Even if you don’t understand it, find a lawyer friend. Have a friend that’s gone to law school break it down so you can understand it way before you even think about having a conversation with your manager. You dictate the terms of your contract as well. You can ask for a higher fee. You can ask for them to cover your travel and have it come from your fee or pay you a higher fee that would subsequently be for your travel.
Ask for what you need, ask kindly, and if it doesn’t happen, have a secondary response. You just have to be careful. But it all comes from being kind from the onset. That being said, and I’m sure you yourself, Peter, have had to go through this where you’re kind until you’re not. It’s Fanny Lou Hamer, who has the famous quote, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” And listen, [Williams begins singing Tytania’s famous aria from Britten’s Midsummer…]: ‘Be kind and courteous to this gentleman’—listen, at some point I’m gonna snap. It’s always the kindest person in the room that you need to be the most worried about…you don’t wanna be on their path when something goes wrong.”
American activist and civil rights movement leader Fanny Lou Hamer was at the top of mind as Williams prepared for his 2024-25 season. I ask Williams to reflect on his October engagement, Freedom Songs: Celebrating Fanny Lou Hamer:
“I was honored and excited to have been asked to perform in this beautiful tribute for the pioneer and artistic historian that is Fanny Lou Hamer with Kentucky Opera. Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting and civil rights activist, she trailblazed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which was formed to stop the Democratic Party from suppressing black votes in Montgomery Country. She was also an incredible storyteller and vocalist.”
I continue and ask about the artists with whom he most wishes to work with and inquire about bucket list projects. Williams instantly replies with the name, Kelly Kuo:
“I love working with him. He’s one of my favorite conductors—Kelly Kuo. I’ve done several shows with him and he’s one of the most humble and encouraging and, and brilliant minds. I mean, anytime Kelly Kuo’s on the project, I already know it’s gonna be fun.”
Sensing his enthusiasm, Emma Rose perks up in her dad’s lap and her eyes meet his loving gaze as he smiles adds her to the list: “Emma Rose—one day when she’s conducting.”
Williams continues: “Kathleen Kelly. She’s a mama bear. I’m fortunate that I get to work with Casey Robards. We’re doing a Nozze together in April. That’s going to be fun. [Robards will conduct Williams in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in with Opera Columbus in April 2025]. But my bucket list conductor—and I feel like she knows it because I—I don’t wanna say I’m a stalker—but I’m probably one of her top 10 biggest fans: Nathalie Stutzmann.
Williams was quick to elaborate on a fall 2024 concert at Merkin Hall as part of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS):
“I got to work with one of the most important individuals in my singing career, and that is with baritone Justin Michael Austin. We are like two brothers on the same wavelength, and two peas in a pod of friendship and humor. Justin has programmed this stunning ensemble of artists in collaboration with NYFOS for “My Brothers Keeper” at Merkin Hall this past November with Justin, myself, Will Liverman, Joshua Blue, Joseph Parrish, and Chaz’men Williams-Ali. Of course the imaginative Steven Blier was on the 88’s, and there were a few surprise musical numbers thrown in the mix while we all shared the piano during some surprise moments in the program.”
Our interview is coming to an end and Emma Rose—who has been very patient—is ready to play with her dad this afternoon. As I close the Zoom room, I think of a press quote I read describing Williams’s voice and singing as: “a solid vocal core and easy, natural production.” (Opera News). After an hour of discussing priorities, family, and navigating a business that’s notoriously not for the faint of heart, I’m struck by how much we’ve laughed and the ease with which Williams has opened up about life. A solid core with natural production for sure!
To learn more and to keep up with baritone Jorell Williams, visit:
https://www.jorellwilliams.com
IG: @Jorellogram
X: @LeJorellShow
