James Willey

James Willey ( born 1939 in Lynn / Massachusetts) is an American composer and music educator.

Willey studied at the Eastman School of Music, where he received a Bachelor, Master degree in 1963 and 1974 the Ph. D. gained in music theory and composition in 1961. In 1964, he also studied at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood with Gunther Schuller. From 1972 until his retirement in 2000 he taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo ( SUNY Geneseo ).

Willey composed chamber music, orchestral and stage works that have been performed by ensembles such as the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Esterhazy Quartet and the Tremont String Quartet. Premieres and performances of his compositions found, inter alia, at Carnegie Hall, the Tanglewood Music Center, at Steinway Hall, at the Smithsonian Opera House and the Seattle Opera House instead. Conductors such as David Zinman and Mark Elder took his works in their repertoire.

In addition to numerous awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ( ASCAP ) Willey received three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. 2004 awarded him an honorary doctorate from SUNY Geneseo.

Source

• SUNY Geneseo - James Willey, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and American composer to receive Honorary Degree

• Man
• Born in 1939
• American composer
• Music teacher