 David Williams, Director of Music & Organist, was born in the small west Tennessee town of Paris and was exposed to music from the very beginning owing to the fact that his mother is a church musician, choir director and singer. Fascinated by the thick, sonorous orchestral sound of the 1923 Austin organ at his home church, he began self-study of the organ in junior high school due to a lack of organ teachers in the area.
After later acquiring a teacher, he was appointed to his first organ playing position at a local church at age 15. Following high school, he attended Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, Memphis State University in Memphis, Tennessee, and received his Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he studied organ with David Mulbury and Roberta Gary. Subsequently, he relocated to New York City and took up study for his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School studying organ and improvisation with Gerre Hancock. Following this, Williams continued study at the Manhattan School of Music earning the Doctor of Musical Arts in organ where he studied performance with John Walker and improvisation with McNeil Robinson.
Having a keen interest in improvisation, he was a finalist in the St. Albans International Improvisation Competition in 1987, and a semi-finalist in the 1998 National Improvisation Competition of the American Guild of Organists. He has made recordings with the Boys Choir of Harlem, the U.S. Air Force, Pro Organo records and Sony/EMI. Mr. Williams has held a number of church positions including Parish Musician at Christ-St. John Lutheran Church in West New York, New Jersey and Associate Organist at The Riverside Church.
In addition to his duties at Lafayette Church, he is also Director of Music at Temple Beth Ahavath Shalom, also in Brooklyn and accompanist to the Holy Apostles Community Chorus.
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