Will Healy is a composer, pianist, and improviser whose work engages with many of the musical worlds in New York City, from classical concert halls to jazz clubs and hip-hop shows. A recipient of the 2023 Leonard Bernstein Prize from the ASCAP Foundation, he is passionate about both tradition and innovation. He has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and National Sawdust, with his compositions featured by ensembles such as the Minnesota Orchestra, Contemporaneous, and Mivos Quartet. His arranging credits include the New York Philharmonic, Donda, the Albany Symphony, and others.

Healy is the artistic director and founder of ShoutHouse, a collective of hip-hop, jazz, and classical musicians. Described by US poet-laureate Billy Collins as “sweetly and smartly off the rails”, ShoutHouse has premiered over 50 new works, and their debut full-length album, Cityscapes, came out on New Amsterdam Records, featuring “a lavishly orchestrated, absolutely unique blend of postrock, art-rock and indie classical.” (New York Music Daily).

Recent compositions include “Passages”, a 30-minute work for wind ensemble and multi-genre soloists, which was premiered at the CBDNA conference in Athens, Georgia in February 2023. A collaboration with poet/emcee spiritchild, “Passages” reflects on stories about language and communication, across three movements, including texts written by the featured rappers on the piece. In 2024, it received The Beeler Prize, selected from a pool of 270 compositions. The judges called it “a completely unique and massive contribution to the repertoire” and “a fresh new outlook on what band music can be”.

As a pianist, Healy has performed solo recitals in the United States and abroad, including programs of original music, world premieres of pieces by other composers, and a wide variety of works from the classical repertoire. Healy has performed the works of J.S. Bach extensively, including the complete Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. Healy plays piano and synthesizers in Pathos Trio, an award-winning metal-influenced chamber group that has premiered dozens of new works. Healy is also a founding member of Upstream, a duo with violinist and composer George Meyer. He is the composer-in-residence for Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s longest-running chamber music series.

Healy’s composition awards include The American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives Scholarship, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, Vassar College’s W.K. Rose Fellowship, a J-Fund commission, and residencies at the Bogliasco, Willapa Bay AiR, and Brush Creek Foundations. Healy has written chamber and orchestral pieces for the New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon and YPC Concert series performances, including an original work for rapper and orchestra performed by the New York Philharmonic. Healy received his M.M. in Composition from The Juilliard School where his mentors included Samuel Adler, John Corigliano, and Steven Stucky. He is entering as a PhD candidate in Composition at Princeton University in Fall 2024. Healy is a Yamaha Artist and a member of ASCAP.