John McLaughlin Williams where are you hiding?

Where is John McLaughlin Williams? The conductor/violinist won a Grammy this year for his conducting in the Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra category. He performed Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques (available at TNC Music), a complex, stunning work for orchestra with solo piano marvelously performed by Angelin Chang.

He’s got several excellent recordings on the Naxos label of music by some terrific American composers:

Nicolas Flagello: Piano Concerto No. 1; Dante's Farewell; Concerto Sinfonico

McKay: Violin Concerto, 16th Century Hymn Tunes
McKay: From a Moonlight Ceremony / Harbor Narrative / Symphony for Seattle

Carpenter: Adventures in a Perambulator / Symphonies 1 & 2

Henry Kimball Hadley: Symphony No. 4, The Ocean, and The Culprit Fay

His violinist credentials are none too shabby either - performed with the National Symphony at 14, performed with the Boston Pops, Boston Symphony, American Ballet Theatre just to name a few. And in keeping with his evident passion for 20th Cent music, he's played US premieres of violin concertos by Bax and Jongen.

We should see a lot more of him. Yet he holds no permanent conducting post nor, to my knowledge, has he ever guest conducted with a major American orchestra. At the very least, the folks at Sphinx ought to be paying some attention to him.