William Hopkins

A native of Dallas, Texas, Will began studying drum set at 10 years old, and became classically focused upon entering high school. From 2015 to 2017 he served as Principal Timpanist of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, to which he owes his passion for classical music.

Will has performed as a principal musician with numerous orchestras and large ensembles including the Juilliard Orchestra, MSM Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre, and Studio Orchestra, Camerata Nova, Texas Festival Orchestra, Lehman College Community Band,
International Lyric Academy, New York Youth Symphony, Uptown Classics, and the
Buonaspina/Fishbeyn Composition Collective. He has performed on multiple occasions at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, CUNY Graduate Center, National Sawdust, Symphony Space, and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. He has performed under several notable conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Leonard Slatkin, Jane Glover, Pinchas Zukerman, Benjamin Zander, Mei-Ann Chen, Andres Franco, George Manahan, Perry So, Michael Repper, and Richard Giangiulio.

Will often performs contemporary chamber music with AXIOM, New Juilliard Ensemble and
Juilliard Percussion Ensemble. He was a featured soloist with Plano West Percussion in 2017
performing Minor Miki’s Marimba Spiritual, and in 2020 on Mark Applebaum’s Straitjacket with the MSM Percussion Ensemble. He has premiered multiple works by former MSM
Percussion Ensemble co-directors Jude Traxler and Mike Perdue, premiered numerous works by
Juilliard and MSM student composers, and appeared alongside Tactus Contemporary Ensemble
as a guest percussionist. He has studied and worked with Steven Mackey, Steven Schick, Andy Akiho, Sandbox Percussion, Simon Boyar, Todd Meehan, Thomas Burritt, and performed sound-
painting under the direction of Walter Thompson. In January 2022 he performed in a reconstruction of Canto Hondo (1937) for solo dancer, oboe, clarinet, and percussion, choreographed by Martha Graham and composed by Henry Cowell, with direction by Terese
Capucilli, dance faculty at Juilliard and Artistic Director Laureate of the Martha Graham Dance
Company.

Will was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2018 New York International Percussion Competition,
hosted by New York University and World Percussion Alliance. He was a 1st Place Winner at the
2019 Majaoja International Percussion Competition in Tampere, Finland. He was the 1st Place Winner of the 2016 Plano Drumline Contest Solo Marimba Competition, and was 2nd Place in the 2017 Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. He was recently a finalist in the
2021 Great Plains International Marimba Competition.

Aside from music, Will can often be found playing chess, reading books, or drinking coffee.