An Interview with Cameren Anai Williams

Published February 9, 2021

Recorded on October 9, 2020, moderated by Ryan Williamson and Emily Singleton
Transcribed by Emily Singleton
Edited by Umi Garrett

Ryan: Thank you so much for being with us today. To start off, what have you and your foundation been digging into recently and how did you get started?

Currently my foundation CamAnai Strings is working on Kinderlute: A Young Musician’s Guide to Taking Care of String Instruments. This is a book that my siblings and I—they’re both younger than I am, Musiq and EJ—we wrote this book in December of 2018 I believe, and so basically the book is just really basic, well it goes through a storyline of like following these instruments on their new journey of getting together with their new owners, and it’s just really basic facts about taking care of your string instrument. So like, making sure you’re wiping down your instrument, and not messing with the pegs unless someone has taught you, and making sure to loosen up your bow when you’re done playing. We wrote this book because the foundation is based in South Florida, West Palm Beach where I’m from, and I am at school in New York, so I can’t do a lot from where I am, or, that is, a lot hands-on from where I am. So we thought this would be a good book for students to have who are new starting out with strings, and also for them to have with their parents, because a lot of parents also may not know about taking care of instruments, especially if they’re not musicians themselves. That book came out in June of 2019, and we are currently working on (or actually almost done, just the books haven’t been released yet) on translations for the book, so we’ve translated it to Mandarin, Italian, Portuguese, French, Spanish and German. We’re working on—the books are pretty much done. We just have to put out the advertisement for it and put it up on Amazon and then we’ll have the translations up for the book. And so that’s what we’ve been currently working on pretty much throughout the entire year. And then, I think you asked like, how the foundation started right? I should have started with that, but (laughs), I started CamAnai Strings in 2014 during my freshman year of high school, and it started because I was looking for a new instrument. My teacher said I needed a new viola so I was trying out a bunch of different instruments, and I found one instrument that I really loved, and it just, it, as soon I played it, it just clicked. And so I told my parents this was the instrument that I wanted, and they were like “Okay,” and so they looked at the price and they were like, “You know what, we can’t afford this so we’re going to have to send it back.” So they sent the instrument back and I was super upset and I want to say maybe like a week to a month later, I came back from a rehearsal and there was a case on the couch, and my mom told me open it, and when I opened it, it was the instrument that I really wanted, and a note that said “You are now the proud owner of this viola,” and I was so happy. It turns out that my nana had seen how much I loved the instrument—she’s also a musician—and she decided to buy it for me. This just got me thinking about how not everyone might have a grandmother as understanding and able as mine to get them an instrument so expensive because they love it so much. And so, that’s really where the idea for CamAnai Strings was born: I wanted to help other people be able to get the proper equipment and instruments they need to further progress in music in general. And so yeah, that’s basically how the foundation started.

Ryan: That’s amazing. Why do you find this work important to you now?

I think it’s really important because, well, as I was trying to get the foundation off the ground, I realized that as I continue to grow older and go to different programs, the number of classical musicians of color just drop way down, and it’s really disheartening to see that. And so, because I feel like the basis of classical music is—obviously it’s all the musical stuff, but if you don’t have the proper like, economic status, or like sources of money to get the proper equipment that you need, I mean, you’re pretty much done. And so if I can by any means help in my small corner of the world in South Florida, I think, I don’t know, I don’t want to say I would feel better about myself, even though that would be a part of it, but I just, I don’t know, I’d feel some sort of content that I was able to help at least a few people be able to do something that they really love and that I think is really important and that I feel like everyone should have access to something as amazing as classical music, or just like instruments or music in general, and so if I can help with that I mean, that’d just be really amazing.

Emily: How do you see your work as a luthier tying into that vision?

I would say that—obviously people who make instruments want to sell their instrument for some sort of price. For me, what I’ve also been doing in terms of the foundation and just like, helping make music more accessible to people, is I don’t charge a ton for like, repairing… I actually don’t charge anything for the repairs, and whenever I’m home I teach lessons and so I don’t charge much or like I work with the parents if they can’t pay. I think that like, in conjunction with that and being a luthier I just try to make things as accessible as I can in terms of the financial aspect of everything.

Emily: In regards to the foundation, where do you see that going in the future, and what goals do you have or concepts you hope to develop?

In the long run I would really love for CamAnai Strings to be its own building and infrastructure in Florida, and I want it to be sort of like a, sort of like a pre-college type thing, sort of. So like I want it to expand to the performance aspect of things, so I would love to get some teachers to be able to teach string instruments, demonstrate the instruments and give masterclasses and chamber music, but also have a section of the whole organization where students can learn more about how to make the instruments and how to repair the instruments and sort of get a handle on how to do that themselves, so that’s really my goal for the foundation: to become something physical that people can go to and confide in and also be a resource center for grants and competitions, and help with the audition process for college. So I really want it to be a physical resource center for people.

Ryan: I think that’s a really valuable vision. Another really valuable aspect of your foundation is how closely you work with your family. How has working with them in this foundation and project impacted your personal artistic vision and perspective?

Awesome, yeah, that’s a really good question. Well first I just want to say that the foundation would not be possible, it would not exist without my family. I think I created this foundation having absolutely no idea how to run a business. I just wanted to help people and I didn’t realize there was all this legal stuff you have to do. Luckily, there are a few lawyers in my family that help us a lot with that, and my mom is really, she’s like Wonderwoman: she can do anything and get in touch with anyone, so, I mean they have been a huge part of what the foundation has become and obviously what it will become. I think throughout the process of building the foundation it actually has made my family a lot closer, which has definitely impacted my personal and musical career. I think before the foundation started, I was doing music because it was something I loved and gave me an emotional and expressive outlet. And it still does all that, and those are still points I think are very important and valid. But I think as I grow older it sort of, it feels almost a little selfish to be doing it all for myself. I think with the foundation and really talking with my family about everything that we want it to stand for and represent, it’s really nice to have this other side of why I find music and work so important. It’s because I really ultimately want to help other people and I want everyone to be able to be involved in this, because I find it so amazing and so engaging and really just so exciting, I want everyone to be able to experience that, you know?

Emily: Absolutely. We’re also curious about how you might expand the project to go beyond strings. What are your thoughts on collaborating with other instrumentalists?

Yeah, that’s definitely been something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve actually been marinating on that idea for maybe about a year or a year and a half now. I haven’t exactly found the way to execute it the way I feel would be best, I’m thinking sort of like something similar to KinderLute, but like, KinderLute Winds, KinderLute Brass, or KinderLute Percussion, but obviously I’m a string player, I have absolutely no idea about that stuff. So I’ve thought about how I have a lot of really amazing friends in those fields, including Ryan, obviously, great horn player, and so I was thinking I would probably do something along those lines but that’s still a very fresh idea I still need to flesh out with my parents and my family and see what they think about that, but I would definitely love to incorporate other instruments in CamAnai Strings.

Emily: How has your work with the foundation shifted during the pandemic, what has that looked like?

That’s a really good question. I think it’s really fortunate how things have worked out, since pretty much during the entire pandemic we’ve been really focused on getting the translations done and set. So that’s been pretty much the whole year. We’ve also sold the English version of the book to some orchestras around the country, so luckily that’s been the main focus, but as far as the hands-on work that’s going on at home, obviously we haven’t been able to do that just with the restrictions, and my family in general is just very cautious. We have some older people in the family, and we just cannot take chances with them. So unfortunately that’s been a part we’ve had to sort of pause for a bit, but luckily with KinderLute we’ve been able to go on at a much faster pace than I think we probably would have if it didn’t happen. So luckily we’ve been able to stay busy.

Visit http://www.camanaistrings.org to learn more about CamAnai Strings

Follow CamAnai Strings on Instagram at @camanaistrings and Cameren at @camanaibratsche

Cameren Anai Williams, a native of West Palm Beach, FL, is a third-year bachelor student studying viola performance at The Juilliard School as a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene fellowship. She was principal violist of the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County Philharmonic Orchestra, principal violist in the New World Symphony Side-by-Side Orchestra, co-principal violist of the Principal Orchestra of Florida Youth Orchestra, assistant principal violist in the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, a member of the New York String Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Jaime Laredo, a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America under the baton of maestro Michael Tilson Thomas and currently plays with The Soulful Symphony and The Juilliard Orchestra. Cameren studies under the tutelage of Professor Carol Rodland.

Williams has been fortunate enough to receive scholarships to summer programs such as The Sphinx Performance Academy, Interlochen Arts Camp, Aspen Music Festival, and the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America on their tour of Asia. During the summer of 2019, Williams studied with Lynn Ramsey, Sheila Browne, Stephanie Baer, and Caroline Coade at the Chautauqua Institute in New York as well as participated in the Weinberg Chamber Music Festival in Kefermarkt, Austria. During the summer of 2021, Williams is invited to tour with the Young Artists of the Center for Musical Excellence Program in Vienna. She was awarded a spot on CME’s Young Artists roster for the 2021 season. While attending summer programs, she has had lessons and masterclasses with Eric Nowlin (principal viola of Detroit Symphony), Roberto Diaz (Curtis Institute of Music), Matthew Lipman (soloist), Jeffrey Irvine (Cleveland Institute of Music), Heidi Castleman (The Juilliard School), Nokuthula Ngwenyama (soloist and composer) and several other notable musicians.

Williams had her solo debut at Carnegie Hall at age 13 as a winner of the American Protégé Competition playing J. C. Bach’s Concerto in c minor. She has competed in a number of different competitions in the nation and has placed in the Sarasota Young Artists Competition (4t​h​ place), South Florida Youth Solo Competition (winner), DSOA Concerto Competition (winner) and the Omega Psi Phi Talent Hunt (winner of the district, state and regional levels). As a result of her winnings, she has soloed with the Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, ViolaFest Miami Orchestra, and the DSOA Philharmonic.

Cameren’s career goal is to focus on chamber and orchestral performance while maintaining a teaching position at a university or conservatory. She teaches private violin and viola students in Florida and in New York and currently holds a MAP Fellowship where she gets the opportunity to teach and collaborate with Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program faculty in classroom and orchestral settings. Cameren’s foundation, CamAnai Strings, makes affordable yet high quality instruments for students who have the talent but lack the financial resources to purchase an instrument (​www.CamAnaiStrings.org)​. Williams has participated in programs from California to Cremona, Italy studying the art of being a luthier. The most recent project of CamAnai Strings was the children’s book, Kinderlute: A Young Musician's Guide to Taking Care of String Instruments, now available on Amazon and in the Juilliard Store in six languages. Cameren currently plays on a 1980 “Kinu Inge” Hiroshi Iizuka traditional 16 1⁄2 viola. Mr. Iizuka made this viola paying homage to his oldest daughter, Kinu Inge.

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