Will Brobston is a Philadelphia-based composer and guitarist who utilizes music as a means to explore and reinterpret various aspects of life, art, and extramusical topics. Will seeks to harness the full range of cognitive potential from the compositional process. From researching sources of inspiration to collaborating with performers, he regards each unique project as a new perspective from which to learn more about the world around him.
Will originally hails from Alabama, where he first discovered his passion for music and later received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music technology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After his undergraduate studies, he moved to Colorado and obtained a Master of Music degree in both Composition and Guitar Performance from the University of Denver in 2017. At DU, Will worked as a graduate teaching assistant and was awarded for his accomplishments in both degree concentrations.
Since his graduate studies, Will has focused primarily on compositional work and teaching. His most recent composition, Fever Dream (2021), is a loose, somewhat aleatoric representation of the pandemic, drawing text from first-hand accounts of the height of quarantine and written for socially distanced performers. Other recent works include Woven Images (2020), an electro-acoustic piece for Pierrot ensemble based on the collage-work and poetry of mid-20th century artist Anne Ryan; and Bardo (2018), a solo guitar work structured upon the Tibetan concept of the transitional journey between death and rebirth.
In the summer of 2019, Will completed his second year of national service with ArtistYear, an AmeriCorps program dedicated to making a positive impact on our nation’s students and communities through the arts. Will currently teaches guitar lessons privately and through Settlement Music School and Philly Music Lessons, while continuing to make meaningful artistic inquiries through composition.