BIOGRAPHY

William R. "Will" Whitehead is an American string music educator, orchestral conductor, and violist. He is the Director of Orchestras at J.J. Daniell Middle School in Cobb County, Georgia, and holds the Ph.D. in Music Education and Orchestral Conducting from the Florida State University (FSU) College of Music.

An experienced music educator, Dr. Whitehead has taught orchestra, guitar, and music theory to all ages from elementary school through high school. Dr. Whitehead’s students have successfully auditioned into all-state orchestras, youth orchestras, pre-college programs, and university music programs, pursuing degrees in music performance and music education around the country. As a collegiate music educator, his teaching has included coursework in string methods, applied viola, and conducting. He spends a part of his summers working as an ensemble director and teaching faculty at the FSU Summer Music Camps' String Orchestra Camp.

Dr. Whitehead is an accomplished and versatile orchestral conductor. Previous conducting appointments include Associate Conductor of the FSU Philharmonia, Music Director of the FSU Sinfonia, and Assistant Music Director of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras. Through these roles, he has enjoyed collaborations with artists such as Noël Wan, winner of the Gold Medal in the 12th USA International Harp Competition, and London-based pianist Antonio Oyarzábal, as featured in the top Spanish classical music digital publication Melómano Digital. Under his leadership, the FSU Sinfonia expanded from less than 20 to more than 60 non-major string and wind players from around the FSU campus with increasingly diverse programming spanning the works of Florence Price, Hugo Alfvén, Felix Mendelssohn, and Rebecca Clarke.

Dr. Whitehead is a strong advocate for diversity of composers and repertoire in the orchestral arts. He had the honor of serving as conductor of the HERo Ensemble for the inaugural “HERo: Women in Music” conference, which featured a program of string orchestra works by all women composers. Dr. Whitehead also spent several summers as the Assistant Conductor of the Studio Orchestra at FSU, where he recorded original film music as well as conducted live film music and the music of popular and classic video games. This led to a collaboration with Daniel E. Wakefield to perform his original score to Charlie Chaplin’s silent film, “The Kid”, live with the FSU Philharmonia in 2023. Most recently, he conducted the world premiere of Piotr Szewczyk’s Alternate Timelines with the 2024 FSU String Orchestra Camp’s Gold Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Whitehead is an active professional and scholar both on and off the podium. Dr. Whitehead has presented sessions at the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) National Conference and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conference, and has been a guest speaker for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) FSU Collegiate Chapter. He has publications in the American Suzuki Journal and the newsletter of the Florida ASTA, The String Section. His research interests include conducting perception, string orchestra and non-traditional repertoire, issues concerning collegiate orchestras, and string and conducting pedagogy. Additionally, he served four years as a district chairperson on the executive board of the Florida Orchestra Association, two years as a member of the American Viola Society's Youth Advisory Council, and has held positions as a section violist and principal violist of orchestras throughout the state of Florida.

Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Whitehead completed Bachelor’s degrees in Viola Performance (B.M.) and Instrumental Music Education (B.M.E.) at the Florida State University. He then completed the Master of Music degree in Music Education at Kent State University. In 2022, he was accepted as a Fellow of the Conductor's Institute of South Carolina, where he further studied conducting with Donald Portnoy, Kate Tamarkin, Peter Jaffe, and Victoria Bond.