This year Brandon Williams, associate professor and director of choral activities, is helping the Rutgers Glee Club prepare for one of its most cherished traditions: a concert tour abroad, which takes place every four years.
This time, the Glee Club, a tenor-baritone-bass choir group founded at Rutgers in 1872, will tour Portugal and Spain for 12 days in May. “They’re not going there just to eat and sit on the beach,” Williams says. “They are there to perform in some really prestigious and historic venues.” The trip is subsidized by Glee Club alumni, reducing the cost for current members. “Some of the most devoted and loyal alumni that we have at Rutgers are Glee Club alumni,” Williams says. “They care deeply about the choir.”
Williams, who reveres both tradition and innovation, takes his responsibility leading the Glee Club seriously, and his students know that. “Dr. Williams holds us to a high standard,” says John Rutsky, a senior who joined the Glee Club’s baritone section as a freshman. “He’s easy to talk to, but he runs a tight ship.”
“Music takes work,” says Williams, who became director of Rutgers Glee Club in 2023. “I don’t see it as a gift. Music is a skill that can be taught and learned.”
Excerpted from an article by Kelly-Jane Cotter. Read more about Williams, and about the Rutgers Glee Club’s European tour, on Rutgers Today.
Image credit: Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University