William McClain

About me:

Conductor and violist Dr. William James McClain has appeared in major venues across the United States and abroad including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Sheremetev Palace in Saint Petersburg Russia. He has conducted professional, community, and talented youth orchestras for over ten years. In the spring of 2006 he conducted Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite with the Macon Symphony Orchestra in Georgia as the 2005 winner of International Conductors Workshop and Festival Competition. Since then he has been awarded that distinction again. Dr. McClain was also recently honored by the International Academy of Advanced Conducting in Saint Petersburg Russia where he conducted the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic’s Congress Orchestra. Dr. McClain is in his second year conducting the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra during their annual Holiday Pops Tour. He has also conducted the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Onondaga Civic Orchestra in upstate New York. As a violist Dr. McClain has recorded with the Adriane String Quartet (faculty string quartet at Ithaca College) and maintains an active solo recital schedule. He is a former member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra. He also performed with the Bakersfield Symphony, the Austin Symphony and was principal violist for the Allentown Symphony and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Dr. McClain has taught undergraduate viola at Ithaca College and The University of Maryland at College Park as a graduate assistant. He was also invited to teach viola and violin as a guest artist at Huston Tillotson College and Mercer University. In the fall of 2009 he will also conduct the Mercer University Orchestra. Dr. McClain is a former faculty member at the Phillips Exeter Academy where he was named the John and Elizabeth Phillips Fellow. While at the Academy he was director of the Chamber Music Program, conducted the Exeter Symphony Orchestra, founded the Exeter Symphonia, and taught in the music theory program. A native of Washington D.C. Dr. McClain is currently Director of Orchestras at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. McClain received degrees in conducting and viola performance from The University of Maryland, Ithaca College and The University of Texas at Austin. His future engagements include appearances with the West Virginia Symphony and the Macon Symphony.