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Performing Arts Library Special Collections in Performing Arts ABA Research Center |
Ostwald Award Archives
Winner 1969: Richard Willis, Aria and Toccata [Listen]
Biography:
Richard Willis (1929-1997) was born in Mobile, Alabama. He received his B.M. degree from the University of Alabama, and both his M.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the Eastman School of Music. His music career began with his appointment to the music faculty of Shorter College in Georgia in 1953. He later became a Professor of Composition and Composer-in-Residence at Baylor University.Willis was a prolific composer whose works were performed throughout the United States and around the world. In 1956 he received the Prix de Rome which took him to Italy for a year of residence at the American Academy in Rome. Among his may awards for orchestral composition were the Joseph Bearns Prize (for Symphony No. 1) and the Howard Hanson Prize (for Symphony No. 2).
Richard Willis wrote in virtually every medium of twentieth-century composition, and his chamber and wind pieces have been played worldwide to great acclaim. His orchestral works have been performed by such groups as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Sinfonica dell'RAI in Rome. His various works for chamber ensembles have been presented by, among others, the Alard Quartet, the Atlanta Symphony Quartet, the Woodwind Arts Quartet, the Clarion Quintet, the Ames Quartet and the Amherst Saxophone Quartet.
On November 15, 1992, the Choral Society of Southern California presented "A Tribute to Richard Willis," an entire concert devoted to his compositions and the works of two of his former students, Nick Strimple and Steven Stucky. This event, which took place in the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, also featured organist Joyce Jones. In reviewing the concert for the Los Angeles Times, John Henken called Dr. Willis's compositions "eclectically inspired but stylistically consistent music, well-crafted in a conservative, tonally centered idiom." Henken also noted the composer's "idiomatic skills with instruments."
Richard Willis was Baylor University's "Outstanding Creative Professor" in 1976, and he was named a Distinguished Professor in 1995. He retired from the Baylor University music faculty following the 1995/96 academic year and was appointed Emeritus Professor. In addition to his composition career and his teaching responsibilities at Baylor, Dr. Willis was music director of Waco's Cotton Palace Pageant from its inception in 1971 until his death.
Source: Correspondence with the composer's family.
