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First name: Richard
Last name: Willis
Dates: 1929-1997
Category: Quartet
Nationality: American
Opus name: Variants (1992)
Publisher: amc
Peculiarities: cd: http://www.music.iastate.edu/org/apq/rosaleen
Information: (From: Ostwald Award Archives) 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 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. 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.