Composer and pianist William Campbell creates emotive and richly dimensional music that elevates listeners with its prismatic beauty. Known for the “sophisticated melodic spark and rising orchestral mood of his lauded soundtrack work,” (The Echo) Campbell embraces atmospheric post-minimalism with a signature focus on balanced facets of color. Throughout his catalog of film, symphonic, chamber, choral, and solo work, Campbell retains an expansive style that maximizes variations of shape and tone to resplendent effect.

“Inspired by his hope that societies can work together for justice and the common good,” Campbell writes music that “invites us to reflect on the world around us.” (National Public Radio) Driven by compassion and a commitment to social justice work, Campbell is proud to partner on films that shine a light on difficult societal issues. This work includes scores for the Oscar-nominated movies Lifeboat (2021) and Hunger Ward (2021), which also won Best Original Score at the Luminous Frames International Film Festival. Campbell’s score for the film Sons & Daughters of Thunder (2020) received an Emmy Nomination for Best Musical Composition and won Best Original Music Score from the Iowa Motion Pictures Association.

With “an impressive career still in full flourishing,” (The Echo) Campbell is the recipient of multiple ASCAPPlus Awards, the Penfield Music Commission Project Composition Prize, a Waging Peace International Composition Special Honor, a Tucson/Pima Arizona Arts Fellowship, the Jim Highsmith Award from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for his orchestral work, Sinfonietta, and an award from The Kennedy Center American Collegiate Theater Festival to adapt his original score for Oedipus Rex.

Campbell’s critically acclaimed solo albums, All In Due Time (2021) and Together We Rise (2023) which debuted at #11 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Chart, continue to inspire listeners both in recording and in live, multimedia concert performances. A dynamic pianist and inspired collaborator, he has led multiple new music groups, including Sonoran Consort, and has soloed with orchestras in North and South America. A resident of Portland, Oregon, Campbell is the Department Chair and Director of Compositional Activities at Linfield University and was previously a Professor of Music at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. His penchant for craft and construction extends beyond music composition into architecture; combining these skills with his love of nature, Campbell designed and built an eco-conscious home in Tucson that continues to be a source of pride among residents.