William Campbell
Biography
William Campbell (1969) is a composer, pianist and improviser. In addition to European and American art music, he has studied and performed music of West Africa, Bali and Native America, and integrates a wide variety of these musical influences into the sounds of his music. William's music has been performed throughout North America by orchestras, chamber groups, vocalists, and in theater productions. Additionally, he has composed for films and stage productions, and his worship music is sung every Sunday in multiple churches across the country.
Recent premieres include Open Vistas for concert band, the score for the dance-theater piece Coyolxauhqui ReMembers by the Latina Dance Project, and On the Horizon for solo piano. He also composed and recorded for the documentary films Finding Face and Bomb Hunters by Spin Film, and the electro-acoustic score for Trickster Dances, commissioned by New ARTiculations Dance Company. His concert music is published by BRS Music and his own label. Performances of his sacred music continue throughout the country and are published on his own label and through Chalice Press and Episcopal Church Publishing. He has been awarded with honors of scholarship and teaching from the University of Oregon and Pima Community College. Composition awards include the Penfield Music Commission Project Composition Prize (2006), a Waging Peace International Composition Special Honor (2003), a Tucson/Pima Arizona Arts Fellowship (1999) and the 1995 Jim Highsmith Award from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for his orchestral work, Sinfonietta.
As a pianist and improviser he has performed in multiple new music groups including the acclaimed Sonoran Consort. He is the director of contemporary music (Open Spirit) at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa.
William is a member of the American Composers Forum, ASCAP and CCLI, and is a board member of the Iowa Composers Forum. He earned degrees from the University of Arizona (B.M.), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.M.), and the University of Oregon (Ph.D.). His dissertation was Earth Mass, a contemporary ecological, liturgical expression. He has taught music composition, theory, technology and world music classes at Pima Community College and Missouri State University, and was a music director and worship leader at churches for twelve years. William currently teaches Music Theory & Composition as an Assistant Professor of Music at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where he lives with his wife and family.
Works for Winds
- Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2003)
- Coyote Dances (2005)
- Heartwood (2006)
- Open Vistas (2008)
Resources