Piano

“…a graceful communicative musical performance that stands as one of the most thrilling feats of musical virtuosity heard this year.”

Miami Herald

Photo by Caroline Yarnell

John Cage

Amy was given a set of preparations for John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes by the pianist Bennett Lerner, who had worked with the composer on the piece in the 1980s. Amy began an ongoing project in 2017 of commissioning composers to write new pieces for the same set of (composer-approved) preparations. The composers who have so far contributed are Brandon Lincoln SnyderKevin LaskeyAdam Vidiksis, Kristian Josifoski, Joseph Michaels, Nomi Epstein, Jeffrey Weeter, Joann Cho, Robert Reinhart, Sophie Pope, Jonathon Kirk, Eric Lennartson, Ui-kyung Lee, Francesca Hellerman, Ketty Nez and Mara Gibson.

Amy Williams plays John Cage Sonatas & Interludes

Sonatas and Interludes (excerpt) | Recorded live by Thad Anderson at Central Florida University in 2016.


Morton Feldman

Amy literally grew up going to concerts and very memorable dinners with “Morty” in Buffalo. She has been playing his music for nearly 30 years. Preparations for the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2026 will include performances around the world. She plays the following works by Feldman:

Solo piano

Palais de Mari (1986)

For Bunita Marcus (1985)

Triadic Memories (1981)

Piano (1977)

Piano duo

Piano Three Hands (1957)

Two Pianos (1957)

Piano Four Hands (1958)

Vertical Thoughts 1 (1963)

chamber

Crippled Symmetry (flute, piano, percussion) (1983)

Patterns in a Chromatic Field (cello and piano) (1981)

Piano and String Quartet (1985)

Extensions 4 (three pianos) (1953)

Durations 2 (cello and piano) (1960)

Words and Music (2 flutes, vibraphone, piano, violin, viola, cello) (1987) 

Five Pianos (1972)

Four Pianos (1957)

Piano & String Quartet (excerpt) | Recorded live by Ben Hjertmann with the JACK Quartet at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in 2022.


Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo

As the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Helena and Amy have been performing 20th and 21st century works for piano four-hands and two pianos since 1995. Their formative project of arranging Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano studies for piano duet led to their first Wergo CD and performances at major festivals around the world. They continue to commission and premiere new works as well as performing seminal pieces by Stravinsky, Cage, Ligeti, Reich, Kurtág, Bartók and many others.

The Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo performs Conlon Nancarrow’s Study for Player Piano #6 at Carnegie Mellon University in 2023.


Solo recitals

Selected Piano Portraits | Recorded live by Brian Riordan, video by Emmanuel Berrido, in 2021.

Solo concerts and lecture-demonstrations include the following:

Works by amy williams

Piano Portraits

Falling

Brigid’s Flame

Cineshape 4

Works by other composers

John Cage: In A Landscape/Suite for Toy Piano

Ruth Crawford: Preludes

Lukas Foss: Solo

Charles Ives: The Alcotts

Felipe Lara: Injust Intonations

Conlon Nancarrow: Tango?

Frederic Rzewski: Piano Piece No. IV

Igor Stravinsky: Tango

Nils Vigeland: Samantha Smith/Tango à Deux