CLASSICS PROGRAM NOTES

WILLIAM HILL (born in 1954) Renaissance for Chorus and Orchestra

William Hill was born on January 31, 1954 in Burlington, North Carolina. He composed Renaissance in the fall of 2022 on commission from the Colorado Symphony. The work receives its World Premiere at these concerts. The score calls for piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, celesta, harp, piano and strings. Duration is about 13 minutes.

William Hill has been acclaimed internationally as a composer, soloist, artist and conductor. Currently, he is in his 43rd year as Principal Timpanist and Composer with the Colorado Symphony and also serves as Music Director of the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra. Hill retired in June 2020 after a distinguished career teaching composition at The University of Denver. In addition to his position with the Colorado Symphony, Hill has performed across the United States and in Europe and China, and served as Principal Timpanist with the Honolulu and Omaha Symphonies, Colorado and Grand Teton Music Festivals, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has been a soloist with many orchestras, and his first CD, Rhythms of Innocence, features him on over 75 percussion instruments, recorders, wood flutes, didjeridoo and piano. In 2006, he was soloist with the Colorado Symphony in the premiere of his own Percussion Concerto.

Hill’s compositions, ranging from symphonies and chamber works, to experimental and improvisational pieces, to works combining acoustic instruments with synthesizers and other electronics, have been performed and recorded nationally and internationally. Three Wings for Orchestra with Soprano (featuring Nadya Hill) opened the 2018 Colorado Symphony season. The Raven for Orchestra and Chorus was commissioned by the Colorado Symphony in 2015, recorded on the Naxos label, and nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and a Grawemeyer Award, the two most prestigious distinctions in American concert music. Symphony No. 3 was premiered by the Colorado Symphony in 2012 and also nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and a Grawemeyer Award. Passages for Orchestra, Electronics and Soprano, with electronics by Colin Hill, was recorded in 2022 with the composer conducting the Colorado Symphony and soprano Nadya Hill, and will become a video for display at Denver International Airport. Three Tangos and From Silence and Isolation were premiered by the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra in 2021 and 2022. William Hill’s newest works include the Symphony No. 4 in Classical Style, premiered in October 2022 with the composer conducting the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra; Concerto for Viola, Strings, Harp and Percussion, which debuts in June 2023; and Renaissance for Chorus and Orchestra, premiered by the Colorado Symphony and Chorus in May 2023. The Moravian Philharmonic of the Czech Republic recorded four of Hill’s compositions in 2006, and his Jazz/ Latin/Fusion and World Music groups have released numerous CDs and DVDs. In addition to his Pulitzer and Grawemeyer nominations, Hill won the Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest and numerous other prizes.

William Hill holds the Bachelor of Music with High Distinction (1977) and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University, and Master of Music (1980) from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is married to violinist Natalie Schmitz Hill, and their two children, Nadya and Colin, are both professional musicians.