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Richard Will

Professor and Chair

Address
203 Drama Bldg.
Charlottesville, VA

Biography
Richard Will received his bachelor’s degree from U.C. Santa Cruz and his doctorate from Cornell. He began teaching at UVa in 2001, where his courses focus on opera, 18th-century music, and bluegrass performance. He is currently Chair of the Drama Department (2018-24) and was previously Chair of the Music Department (2010-15).

Will’s research focuses on opera, classical music, and folk music of America and Europe. His new book, Don Giovanni Captured: Performance, Media, Myth (University of Chicago Press), will appear in 2022. Previous publications include The Characteristic Symphony in the Age of Haydn and Beethoven (Cambridge University Press, 2002); Engaging Haydn: Culture, Context, and Criticism (co-editor; Cambridge University Press, 2012); and numerous essays on opera, orchestral music, religious music, and folk music.

A fiddler and singer, Will performs frequently around Charlottesville and central Virginia.