Joan Franks Williams (b. New York, 1930 - d. Seattle 2003; emigrated to Israel in 1971, returned to Seattle ca. 1988) directed the chamber music department of the Israel Broadcasting Authority between 1972 and ca. 1988. She initiated the concert series, New Dimension in Music, beginning the in the mid 1970's until 1985, producing and often conducting concerts. She studied in New York with Wolpe, Shapey, Ussachewsky and Haubenstock-Ramati. Franks Williams enhanced the Israeli avant-garde at the time, not only as a radio producer, but also through her uncommonly humorous interpretation of the avant-garde in her own works. She wrote over thirty pieces, some twenty of them while in Israel, mostly chamber music: Kassandra (1963), Haiku (chamber, 1969), Haiku (orchestra, 1972), Frogs (vocal-chamber, tape, 1974), Samson the Hero (vocal-chamber, tape (1975)), You too, Brutus! (mezzo solo, 1976), Rudolph Heinemann in Bonn (trombone, 1978), Sevenths to Eight (1979), The Love of Therese du Meun (voice, piano, viola, 1980), Song of Songs (1983), and Leah (1986).
Written by Dr. Ronit Seter
