John McLaughlin Williams is an award-winning orchestral conductor, composer, arranger, and violinist. A four-time Grammy nominee, he was the first African-American conductor to receive a Grammy Award in 2007. Williams’ extensive conducting experience includes engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, and the Chicago Sinfonietta, and his recordings have received international acclaim. He has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the South Carolina Philharmonic, and as a guest concertmaster with the touring companies of the American Ballet Theatre, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Kirov Ballet. His most recent composition is a new version of the National Anthem for the government of the Cayman Islands. In 2018, he served as a Center panelist in Performance.