Singer, scholar, and producer will bring her acclaimed song cycle American Patriots to New Mexico Highlands University and share her new book, Black Song, during a residency this October and November
Arts activist Samantha Rose Williams comes to the Highlands community as the Nina Tesla Ballen Visiting Professor, October 25th – November 7th, 2026.
Williams is an arts activist committed to sharing marginalized experiences with diverse audiences and creating space for critical discussion about art, culture, and social change. After earning her B.A. at Stanford University, Samantha went on to receive her Master's in Music and Specialist's in Music at the University of Michigan in Voice Performance. She balances an exciting career in performance and arts leadership and has a deep love for opera, musical theater, and producing. An accomplished performer trained in both musical theater and opera, Samantha's recent performances include the Royal London Opera House, Arena Stage, Lincoln Center, the National Gallery of Art, and Stanford Live.
As a producer and arts leader, Samantha works on shows that share nuanced stories with people of all backgrounds and beliefs. Recent collaborations include working as the associate producer on Kronos Quartet’s 3 Bones Concert at Carnegie Hall, and creating the outreach program for the play UnRavelled, which looks at the intersection of music, dementia, and hope. As a scholar, Williams recently co-wrote Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice as part of the Singing Justice Collective, to be published in November 2026. Her current project is American Patriots, a theatrical song cycle that explores what it means to be an American across political party, race, gender, and class.
American Patriots Comes to Highlands
Williams' interests as a musician, arts leader, and scholar all coalesce in American Patriots, which she created, performs in, and produces. The show dives into the tensions at the heart of American democracy following Williams on a journey across America's increasingly polarized society as she interviews over 50 Americans from vastly different perspectives. Part game show, part cabaret, part opera, part unhinged conversation at Thanksgiving dinner with that relative you try to avoid, American Patriots asks audiences to stand in the shoes of their fellow Americans. The show traverses political party, race, gender, and class as Williams searches for a shared American identity she can be proud of through interviews including: a Black Gen-Z pre-teen who believes the American Dream is for white people, an ex-cop angered by protesters who kneel during the national anthem, a Native American who struggles with the concept of sovereignty under a larger nation, a military veteran grappling with the right and wrong ways to protest, and the interviewee Samantha spent the most time with — a "white-ish" woman who "dated a black guy once" — who shares her unpopular opinions about reverse racism in America. Using verbatim lyrics drawn from these interviews, three performers embody interviewees by literally stepping in and out of their shoes, sharing their words through songs and monologues that move past the labels often used to demarcate difference and give an unbiased portrayal of each story.
This past April, the show had a final workshop at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., which will present it in a coming season with a full ensemble of instruments and singers. American Patriots also exists in a concert version accompanied only by piano, and Highlands and Las Vegas will be given a special preview of that version during Williams' visit, when she will perform alongside Jennifer Perez (soprano), Javier Ortiz (bass/baritone) and Prof. Gabriel Merrill-Steskal (piano). Featuring the music of composers Regina Harris Baiocchi, Gala Flagello, Danielle Jagelski, Marc Lemay, and Yaniv Segal American Patriots is created by Samantha Rose Williams, directed by Rose Jarboe, music directed and arranged by Yaniv Segal, and co-produced by Cath Brittan.
- Performance — SUB Theater — Friday, Nov. 6, 7:00 p.m.
- Open rehearsal (students welcome) — Thursday, Nov. 5, 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice
Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice centers acts of musical creation and performance that emerge from Black experiences, affirm Black humanity, and connect to Black communities. Written for scholars, performers, and music fans, the book shows that learning about Black Song and its creation is central to understanding both American music and Black American experiences. By providing a more inclusive, just, and accurate understanding of the art of Black Song, the authors disrupt and expand musical canons, spotlighting the response, resistance, and community building that occur in musical creation in Black spaces past and present.
The authors explore histories and performances across musical styles — from classical to country to hip-hop to opera to jazz to gospel and many others — and offer practical advice on how to perform, research, teach, and listen to this music. As they center Black Song in American history and music, they show that this music is a valuable tool for promoting productive and healing dialogues about race, justice, and history.
Black Song is co-authored by the Singing Justice Collective, a research group of eleven musicians and scholars formed through the University of Michigan Humanities Collaboratory. Members of the collective are Stephen A. Berrey, Tyrese Byrd, Mark Clague, Caroline Helton, and Louise Toppin (University of Michigan); Naomi André (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Christie Finn (Hochschule für Musik Freiburg); Thomas Hampson (independent artist); Cody Ebright-Jones (independent scholar); Traci Lombré (Chicago Public Library); and Samantha Rose Williams (independent artist).
- Book Talk — Donnelly Library — Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30 p.m.
Classroom Visits and Student Engagement
As part of her residency, Williams will guest teach and speak with students across several Highlands departments, including English, Music, Sociology, and Media Arts:
- English 3810 — Black Literatures (Prof. Rebecca Schneider) — Monday, Oct. 26, 12:30–1:45 p.m.
- Music Convocation — Tuesday, Oct. 27, 3:30–4:30 p.m.
- English 3810 — Black Literatures (Prof. Rebecca Schneider) — Wednesday, Oct. 28, 12:30–1:45 p.m.
- English 4010 — Advanced Poetry (Prof. Oscar Oswald) — Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2:00–3:15 p.m.
- Music and Arts Career Workshop and Q&A — Thursday, Oct. 29, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
- Voice Masterclass — Friday, Oct. 30, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
- Sociology 4250 — Social and Transformative Justice (Prof. Erika Derkas) — Monday, Nov. 2, 2:00–3:15 p.m.
- Music 3320 — Music Theory IV — Monday, Nov. 2, 3:30–4:45 p.m.
- English 2350 — Introduction to Drama (Prof. Jess Goldberg) — Tuesday, Nov. 3, 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
- Sociology 2310 — Contemporary Social Problems (Prof. Erika Derkas) — Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2:00–3:15 p.m.
- Media Arts MFA Studio Class (Prof. Mariah Hausman) — Thursday, Nov. 5, 11:00 a.m.–1:45 p.m.
In Prof. Schneider's Black Literatures course, Williams will engage with the class's unit on Black Caribbean music. In Prof. Oswald's Advanced Poetry class, she will discuss how she worked with composers to transform interviews from the American Patriots project into poetic song lyrics. In Prof. Goldberg's Introduction to Drama class, she will lead students in a Verbatim Theater interview exercise. And in Prof. Derkas' Sociology courses, Williams will speak about using the performing arts as a force for social change, drawing on her own experience as an arts activist and a cultural history of art as resistance found in Black Song.
Public Events and Short Descriptions
- Talk on Arts Activism — SUB Theater — Thursday, Oct. 29, 5:00 p.m.
- Samantha Williams is an arts activist committed to sharing marginalized experiences with diverse audiences and creating space for critical discussion about art, culture, and social change. She will discuss the making of her current project, American Patriots, and the role of activism in our world today.
- American Patriots Performance — SUB Theater — Friday, Nov. 6, 7:00 p.m.
- The show American Patriots dives into the tensions at the heart of American democracy, traversing political party, race, gender, and class as creator Samantha Williams searches for a shared American identity she can be proud of. Using verbatim lyrics drawn from interviews with Americans from vastly different perspectives, Williams, Jennifer Perez, and Javier Ortiz will embody interviewees by literally stepping in and out of their shoes, sharing their words through songs that move past the labels often used to demarcate difference and give an unbiased portrayal of each story. Prof. Gabriel Merrill-Steskal will join the performance on piano.
- Book Talk — Donnelly Library — Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30 p.m.
- Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice centers acts of musical creation and performance that emerge from Black experiences, affirm Black humanity, and connect to Black communities. Written for scholars, performers, and music fans, the book shows that learning about Black Song and its creation is central to understanding both American music and Black American experiences. Samantha Williams will speak about the book and how this music is a valuable tool for promoting productive and healing dialogues about race, justice, and history.