William Gardiner (b.1987) is an Australian composer currently studying at the Yale School of Music in the United States. William Gardiner previously attended the University of Sydney, where he received degrees in Arts and Law. Gardiner studied with several of the Australia’s leading composers, including Matthew Hindson, Paul Stanhope, Anne Boyd, Michael Smetanin and Damien Ricketson. William Gardiner is the product of a diverse musical pedigree. He was born to a pair of passionate early music enthusiasts, and spent his earliest years immersed in early music, most notably that of Bach, as performed by the likes of Ton Koopman, the Kuijken brothers and the Savall family. His teenage years were accompanied by the revelation of rock music, leading to Gardiner taking up the drum set and contributing to his strong rhythmic sense. During his later school years, an interest in composing was provoked by hearing the music of composers such as Astor Piazzolla, Latvian Pēteris Vasks, George Crumb and Alfred Schnittke. Upon finishing high school, William’s first compositional efforts, works written in imitation of Bach and Piazzolla, received perfect scores in the matriculation exams, resulting in performances at the Sydney Opera House. More recently, Gardiner has found inspiration in the inventiveness and beauty of music by Animal Collective, the emotive instrumental masterpieces of Canada’s Do Make Say Think, and the seething, virtuosic compositions of Italy’s Fausto Romitelli.

www.williamgardiner.com