Willie Williams (set designer)

Willie Williams, show design, U2 360° Tour, 2009
Willie Williams show design, R.E.M., Up Tour, 1999
Willie Williams show design, George Michael, 25 Live Tour, 2006
Willie Williams, 'Vigil' installation, Canterbury Cathedral, UK, 2006

William Peter Charles "Willie" Williams (born 1959) is a show director, stage, video and lighting designer for concerts, theatre, and multimedia projects. He is best known for his groundbreaking work with the rock band U2, and is recognised as one of the leading artists in this field.[1]

He was born in 1959 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and raised in Sheffield, England, son of Robert Woodman Williams, a singer & medical practitioner who was an early pioneer in the then fledgling field of physiotherapy and who also sang with South Yorkshire Opera. Williams excelled at mathematics and science in school and planned to study physics at University College, London. The advent of punk rock caused him to enter the music scene instead, and he began doing lights for various bands such as Writz, Deaf School and Stiff Little Fingers.[2]

Willie Williams has been responsible for the design of U2's tours from 1982 onward, most famously the extravagant, bewildering Zoo TV Tour (1992–93), and most recently the Innocence + Experience Tour (2015-16). He has also worked with musical artists such as REM,[3][4] David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Darren Hayes[5] and George Michael.[6]

Williams has designed for the Montreal-based dance company La La La Human Steps. Other collaborations have been with Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithfull and the Kronos Quartet, most notably on Sun Rings, a joint effort with NASA that combines the string quartet's music with video and audio material collected by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.[7]

Gallery and Architectural Installations

In 2015, Williams designed the giant kinetic chandelier installed at Omnia nightclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. [8] He has exhibited his own kinetic light sculptures in several art galleries.[9] The sculptures, entitled "Lumia Domestica", create kaleidoscopic projections in the tradition of Nicolas Schoffer and Thomas Wilfred by refracting light through household glassware. Other public works include the creation of lighting installations at London's Southbank Centre and within Canterbury Cathedral;[10] "SkyChurch", a multimedia performance space at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, and a permanent exhibit at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.[11]

Theatre works

Theatre shows Williams has worked on include We Will Rock You, Little Britain Live, French and Saunders Still Alive, Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters, The Fast Show Live, Barbarella and Pam Ann.[12][13]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Marian Sandberg. "LDI 2007". Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  2. ↑ Paul McGuinness. U2byU2. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  3. ↑ Larry Shaw. "R.E.M. Monster Tour". Retrieved 3 March 2005.
  4. ↑ Hannah Kate Kinnersley. "Re:Sources". Retrieved 1 November 2004.
  5. ↑ Ellen Lampert-Greaux. "Birdman". Retrieved 1 December 2007.
  6. ↑ Live Design. "25 Live". Retrieved 6 June 2007.
  7. ↑ Kronos Quartet. "SunRings". Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  8. ↑ Marian Sandberg. "Omnia Nightclub: The Chandelier By The Numbers". Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Meryl Doney. "Wallspace". Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  10. ↑ Sarah Rushton-Read. "LSI online". Retrieved 20 April 2004.
  11. ↑ AW. "Architecture Week". Retrieved 19 July 2007.
  12. ↑ IMDB. "IMDB". Retrieved 6 June 2007.
  13. ↑ Marianne Sandberg. "Live Design". Retrieved 6 October 2011.

External links

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