A prelude to concert #6 in this year's Winter Chamber series, Gail Williams will discuss the Brahms Horn Trio, which is featured in the evening's 7:30 p.m. concert.

Admission is free.

Gail Williams is an internationally recognized hornist and brass pedagogue. She has presented concerts, master classes, recitals and lectures throughout North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. Williams joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in December 1978 and was appointed Associate Principal Horn in 1984, a position she held until her retirement from the orchestra in 1998. She has been a member of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and is currently principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Williams is the horn professor at Northwestern University, where she has been on the faculty since 1989. In May of 2005, she received the Charles Deering McCormick Teaching Professorship. Williams studied with John Covert at Ithaca College and received a master’s degree from Northwestern University. Her awards from Ithaca College include the Ithaca College’s Young Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate of music. Williams is also dedicated to performing and promoting chamber music. She is an original member of the Summit Brass, an ensemble with whom she has made eight recordings. As featured horn soloist, she has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, New World Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, and the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Williams also performed in 2004 as Principal Horn with the Saito Kenin Orchestra and Maestro Ozawa in Matsumoto, Japan. In 2005, she performed as Principal Horn with the World Orchestra for Peace with Maestro Gergiev with concerts in London, Berlin, Moscow, and Beijing.