Sphinx Virtuosi
Sphinx Competition
    2012 Junior Division first place Laureate - age 14
    2011 Junior Division semi-finalist - age 13

Junior Division First Place Laureate of the 2012 Annual Sphinx Competition presented by the DTE Energy Foundation. Ade Williams performs as part of the Sphinx Soloist Program sponsored by the GM Foundation.

Adé Williams, 14, is the first William Warfield scholarship recipient and a member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s (MIC) Academy program where she studies violin with MIC artist faculty Almita and Roland Vamos. Adé is the first place laureate of the Junior Division of the 2012 Sphinx Competition. She is also a first place winner of the 2011 DePaul Concerto Festival for Young Performers, first place and best interpretation winner of Korean music in the 2010 Senior and 2009 Junior Divisions of the Sejong Cultural Society’s Music Competition, and winner in various other competitions beginning with first place in the Walgreen’s National Concerto Competition in 2005.

Named Artist-in-Residence with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra in 2012, Adé also had a year of exciting opportunities in 2011, including a 14-city tour with the Sphinx Virtuosi and international soloing in Switzerland and Bermuda. Adé’s 2004 orchestral debut at the age of six was with the Chicago Sinfonietta as that orchestra’s youngest ever soloist. She has soloed with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra (2011), the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (2010) at Millennium Park, the MIC’s Academy Strings (2010, 2009), the Lake Forest Symphony (2009), the Highland Park Strings at Ravinia (2007), and the South Side Family Chamber Orchestra (2006). Her 2006 radio debut was on WFMT’s “Young Artist Showcase.”

From 2009–2011, Adé played with the Okemo String Quartet, winner of the 2011 Jules M. Laser Chamber Music Competition presented by the Society of American Musicians and Music in the Loft, semi-finalist of the 2011 St. Paul String Quartet Competition, and youngest ever semi-finalist (2011) and quarter-finalist (2010) of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Okemo’s high honors include performing in honor of Maestro Riccardo Muti (2011) and Yo-Yo Ma (2010) at MIC’s Annual Galas.

In 2004, Adé founded SugarStrings (www.SugarStrings.com) with her cousins Mira and Ayanna. In 2011, the string trio was featured on WFMT’s “Introductions,” CNN/Essence Magazine “What Matters,” ABC7’s “Windy City Live,” and in a cover story in N’Digo Magazine. Other features include NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (2010), NBC5 Local News (2010), ABC7’s “Someone You Should Know” (2009), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2009), Ebony Magazine (2007), and the Chicago Tribune (2006). SugarStrings has had the outstanding privilege of playing for Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra events, debuting at Ravinia, and performing at numerous civic and charitable events for the City of Chicago, La Rabida Children’s Hospital, Haiti relief, Caribbean Children’s Fund, Living Room Café Soup Kitchen, The Cradle, and other worthy causes around the country.

Adé performs on a violin by Jan van Rooyen, 2008, after the "Comte de Villares" Stradivarius, 1720, on generous loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation. She is honored to be a Bauder Fellow, a Links Fellow, and recipient of generous support from Alexandra Nichols. She is a charter member of the Junior Division of the Chicago Music Association.

Adé enjoys family time (especially with her little brother, cellist Jonathan), ballet, acting, soccer, and movie classics.