Andrew Willis
- Covington Distinguished Professor
- Piano, Historical Keyboard Instruments
- 352 Music Building
- [email protected]
- 336-933-1828
Pianist Andrew Willis explores the historical development of keyboard instruments and their performance practice, maintaining a commitment to the study, performance, and teaching of the widest possible range of repertoire. Keenly interested in the history of the piano, he contributes frequently to conferences, festivals, and concert series. He is a past president of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society and a Trustee of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, for whose International Fortepiano Competition he served as a juror.
As Covington Distinguished Professor of Music in the UNC Greensboro School of Music, Willis teaches performance on instruments ranging from harpsichord to modern piano. He directed the biennial UNCG Focus on Piano Literature for over a decade and recently inaugurated a student Historical Performance Consort. For the Albany, Bridge, Claves, Centaur, and CRI labels he has recorded solo and ensemble music of three centuries on pianos linked historically to the chosen repertoire. His recording of Op. 106 for the first complete Beethoven sonata cycle on period instruments was hailed by The New York Times as “a ‘Hammerklavier’ of rare stature.”
Willis received the D.M.A. in Historical Performance from Cornell University, where he studied fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson, the M.M. in Accompanying and Chamber Music from Temple University under George Sementovsky and Lambert Orkis, and the B.M. in Piano from The Curtis Institute of Music, where his mentor was Mieczyslaw Horszowski.