Will Healy
Will Healy is a composer and pianist based in New York. Known for his "lushly bluesy" sound and "adroitly blended... textures" (New York Times), Healy is the artistic director of ShoutHouse, an orchestral hip-hop collective. For many years he played trumpet in the hip-hop/afrobeat band "Yes Noyes", which influenced his compositional style and led to collaborations with talented musicians from many backgrounds. He was a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2013, and his work has appeared on New Sounds with John Schaefer, the I Care if You Listen Mixtape, at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, the Apollo Theater, and more. His commissions include harpist Nancy Allen, Half-Stick Duo, James Schlefer, Robert Fleitz, and The Cortona New Music Sessions. Healy is completing an M.M. in Composition at The Juilliard School, where he studies with John Corigliano. He has also studied with Samuel Adler, Steven Stucky, John Corigliano, and Kevin Puts, as well as Harold Meltzer and Richard Wilson at Vassar College.
When he was announced as the recipient of the W.K. Rose Fellowship in May 2014, the committee wrote, “Healy’s compositions exhibit both technical skill and lyricism, they are meticulously constructed, daringly orchestrated, and beautifully phrased.” He was a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2013, where his work, Synapses, was selected for a subscription concert. Healy’s music has recently appeared on the NY Philharmonic’s Biennial series, New Sounds with John Schaefer, and the I Care if You Listen Spring 2015 Mixtape. His commissions include harpist Nancy Allen (principal harpist, New York Philharmonic), Half-Stick Duo, James Schlefer, the Mahagonny Ensemble, the Marymount School, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. Passionate about education, Will is a Teaching Artist Associate with the New York Philharmonic Education Program.
After beginning his piano studies at age four with Dennis Malone, he has been recognized for his talent with top prizes in the Connecticut Music Teacher’s Association Piano Competition, the Westchester Music Teacher’s Association Competition, the Chaminade Club Award, and he has won both the Vassar College Concerto Competition and the Jean Slater Edson Prize multiple times. He studies with Frank Heneghan of the Royal Conservatory in Dublin, Luiz de Moura Castro of the Hartt School of Music, and Anna Polonsky of Vassar College. When he is not composing or playing music, Will runs long distances.