2000 Theatre Organ Workshop Featured Artist...

Lew Williams

A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lew Williams began playing the organ at age ten and started formal piano studies five years later. Upon graduating from high school he enrolled at Texas Christian University, where he was a pupil of Emmet G. Smith. While at TCU he won several competitions in organ playing, gave numerous recitals, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate.

Williams went to the Conservatory of Music, Geneva, Switzerland for a year of post-graduate work, where he studied organ improvisation with Pierre Segond. After finishing his studies there, he gave an organ recital at the Cathedral of St. Pierre in Geneva which was recorded by Swiss National Radio.

Upon his return to the United States, Lew Williams attended Southern Methodist University and earned the Master of Music degree, working with Dr. Robert T. Anderson. He also won the American Guild of Organist's regional competition and performed at their national convention the following year.

Since 1979 he has been associated with the Organ Stop Pizza restaurants in Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona. Currently he performs on the largest theatre organ in public, the Wurlitzer pipe organ at Mesa's Organ Stop. In 1988, he was named "Organist of the Year" by the American Theatre Organ Society. Concert work has taken him around the USA many times. He has played five concert tours of England, and in 1998 he appeared in Australia's national theatre organ convention in Adelaide.

Lew Williams currently has three recordings to his credit: At Last (Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, 4/22 Wurlitzer), Live at Pasadena Civic Auditorium (5/29 Moller), and Rhapsody in Blue (Organ Stop Pizza, Mesa, 4/67 Wurlitzer).