BIOGRAPHY

William R. "Will" Whitehead is an American string music educator, orchestral conductor, and violist. He is the director of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Philharmonic Orchestra and Director of Orchestras at Northview High School in John’s Creek, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He 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 at all levels, from elementary, middle, and high school string classes through to collegiate orchestras and youth orchestras. 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. Several of his former students are now professional musicians and music educators themselves. He is now in demand as an honor orchestra clinician/conductor and spends his summers teaching and conducting at university orchestra camps throughout the southern United States.

Dr. Whitehead is an accomplished and versatile orchestral conductor. His conducting appointments have included 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 internationally acclaimed artists such as harpist Noël Wan, cellist Greg Sauer, composer and violinist Piotr Szewczyk, and London-based pianist Antonio Oyarzábal, as featured in the top Spanish classical music digital publication Melómano Digital. Dr. Whitehead also spent several summers as the Assistant Conductor of the Studio Orchestra at FSU, where he recorded original film music, the music of popular and classic video games, and conducting film music with live media. 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. Dr. Whitehead has conducted several world premieres, including Piotr Szewczyk’s Alternate Timelines (2024) with the FSU String Orchestra Camp and Jim Palmer’s Sinfonietta (2026) as part of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras’ 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Dr. Whitehead is an active professional and scholar both on and off the podium. He has presented sessions for the College Orchestra Directors Association National Conference, the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conference, the FSU Collegiate Chapter of the National Association for Music Education, and the Georgia Music Education Association In-Service Conference. He has publications in the American Suzuki Journal and the journal of ASTA’s Florida chapter, The String Section. 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.