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William Mayer, is an American composer.
Mayer was born in New York City, and entered Yale University in 1944, but his college years were interrupted by military service. Upon his discharge he re-entered Yale and graduated in 1949, then trained at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music, studying with Roger Sessions and Felix Salzer, and later with Otto Luening, Emanuel Balaban and Izler Solomon.
The composer has written three stage works in addition to his prize-winning A Death in the Family, and a variety of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. John Rockwell of The New York Times points out that Mayer is "especially known for his operas and songs ... his work sings out with real beauty, both in the vocal writing and the instrumental settings."
Distinguished artists have introduced his scores: Robert De Cormier led the New York Choral Society in its Lincoln Center premiere of "Spring Came on Forever"; sopranos Heidi Grant Murphy, Eleanor Steber and Christine Brewer have all premiered vocal-chamber works; and Leopold Stokowski conducted Mayer's piano concerto Octagon at Carnegie Hall with William Masselos as soloist.
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