William Lenihan
Composer | Guitarist | Pianist | Professor
William Lenihan
WILLIAM LENIHAN, composer, guitarist has worked with numerous musicians in the concert and the studio worlds including Marc Copland, Ron Carter, Jay Oliver, Tom Kennedy, Dave Weckl, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Bob Brookmeyer, Chick Corea, Lucrezio de Seta, John Patitucci, Tony Grey, George Lewis, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, countless studio orchestras, numerous conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Constantine Kitsopolous, Richard Heyman and numerous others. His work over many years includes his concert music including jazz, as well as professional industry and studio work.
He studied the piano and accordion from age seven. Years later he began the study of classical guitar, jazz guitar and soon composition, after years of playing classical music and popular forms on both keyboard instruments.
By age 19 he was working with major jazz and classical music ensembles including Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, New Music Circle, SLSO Discovery Series New Music, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, as well as with longtime collaborators, keyboardist/producer Jay Oliver and drummer Dave Weckl. Early on in formative years while studying composition, classical guitar and jazz, like so many young jazz musicians, he worked in the studios and theatres earning a living performing with numerous icons of pop and theatre music including Petula Clark, Bernadette Peters, Charo, Suzanne Somers, Debbie Reynolds, Julie Andrews, Brenda Holloway, Rich Little, Cloris Leachman, Vic Damone, Dianne Carroll, Sergio Franchi, Sheryl Crow, Red Skelton, Ernie Ford, Frankie Laine, Danny Thomas, Jim Bailey, Nathan Lane, Helen O’Connel, Henny Youngman, Bobby Vinton, Tony Martin, Audrey Landers, Rip Taylor, Florence Henderson, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Starr, The Shirelles, The Platters, David Cassidy, Margaret Thatcher (ceremonial), Theodore Bikel [Fiddler on the Roof], Ed Ames, Roger Williams, Jim Nabors, Lou Rawls, Louise Mandrell, Lawrence Welk Orchestra many other stars of film, television and the Broadway stage; The Lion King (2004, 2007, 2011), Hairspray, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Grease, Man of la Mancha, Godspell, Pippin, Jacques Brell is Alive and Living in Paris, Ice Capades, Barnum and Bailey Circus, Blood Brothers, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunset Boulevard, Showboat [three runs of tours] 1928 version, The Boyfriend, West Side Story [European tour], Chicago, Tom Sawyer, Showboat 1985 revision, The Lion King (2012 tour) Café Chanson, Daddy Long Legs, Three Penny Opera, Elephant’s Graveyard, Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde, Tom Sawyer and numerous others.
Early on he worked in the jazz clubs and concert venues with St. Louis luminaries Freddie Washington, Ray Kennedy, Willie Akins and numerous others.
As a working classical guitarist, he has performed, toured, recorded with major ensembles opera and chamber music including Otello, Giuseppe Verdi [1985], Falstaff, Guiseppe Verdi [2014],Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Gioacchino Rossini [2012], Roman Festivals, Ottorino Respighi [1984], Oberon, Carl Maria Von Weber [1980], Werther, Jules Massenet [1981], Arianna, Alexander Goehr [1996], The Beggar’s Opera, John Gay [1986], Treemonisha, Scott Joplin [1992], Wise Women, Conrad Susa [2015], Night of the Four Moons, George Crumb [2015], Histoire du Tango, Astor Piazzolla [2004], Carillon, Recitatif, Masque, Hans Werner Henze [2015, 2017], Libertango, Astor Piazzolla [accordion] [2015], Romeo and Juliet, Serge Prokofiev [1988], Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin/Christopher O-Reilly, SLSO [1989], Light Spirit, Michael Colgrass [1976], Snow Dreams, Joan Tower [1983], Umbrian Colors, Barbara Kolb [1983], Serenade, Op. 24, Arnold Schoenberg [1979], Three Songs, Op. 18 per Soprano, Guitar, Eb Clarinet, Anton Webern [1989], Four Russian Songs for Soprano, Guitar, Flute, Harp, Igor Stravinsky [1978, 1992], Aranjuez, Ma Pensee, [Concierto de Aranjuez] Joaquin Rodrigo [2015], Tres’ Canciones, Joaquin Rodrigo [2015], Elegy, Alan Rawsthone [1979], String Trio for Violin, Electric Guitar, Violoncello, Donald Erb [1991], Theme and Variations, Lennox Berkeley [1978], Kammermusic 1958, Hans Werner Henze [1977], Le Marteau Sans Maitre, Pierre Boulez [1991], Sequenza per Chitarra, Luciano Berio [1992], To Hope Oratorio, Dave Brubeck [2010], Mass, Leonard Bernstein, Postcard from Morroco, Dominick Argento [2012] and many other works of the traditional and modernist repertoire including works of Giuliani, Sor, Villalobos, DeFalla, lute songs for voice and guitar or lute [Elizabethan, Renaissance Italian and French songs with faculty singers of many universities], Light and Shade, David Werfelmanns [2015], Four Songs, Harold Blumenfeld [2015] and much more.
In the early 1980’s, after a busy young career as a professional guitarist and composer, he studied with Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock at Naropa Institute. From this experience he developed a long musical relationship with Towner and developed his individuated style, consisting in classical guitar technique with jazz improvisation and modernist musical language. During this period his first important compositions for improvisation came about with the trio In The Midst with saxophonist Paul DeMarinis and drummer Roger Guth.
By 1982 he was living and working in New York City playing the clubs in the city and up and down the coast while studying composition with jazz pianist
Richie Beirach.
In 1985 he began graduate studies in film music at University of Southern California [classes with Jimmie Haskell, Bruce Broughton, Tom Dowd, and masterclasses with Henry Mancini and others] then scoring numerous films, documentaries, and television sequences including The Making of Willow, [George Lucas/Ron Howard/HBO, The Rocketeer: Excitement in he Air, Disney Channel, ABC-TV Fashion Report, Smithsonian World, PBS-TV, Emila Earhart, TV, Euopean TV, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, NBC-TV, License to Kill, [James Bond film] preview music for film.
His work with composer David Wheatley led to many scoring dates and music contributions for programs on major television networks and work as a studio guitarist in LA, while pursuing serious musical endeavors. During this period he once again recorded the Contemporary Drummer set with Dave Weckl and Jay Oliver, with Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, bassist Tom Kennedy, and others. He also produced his first serious compositions Due Pezzi per Viola and Pianoforte, Sonata for Two Pianos, and Due nel Crepuscolo, which amongst numerous other works were recorded by leading orchestral musicians and solo recitalists, including Thomas Dumm, Mary Mottl, and Takioki Sugitani. Later, Oliver and Lenihan woud produce the ambient music recording, The Tree Sometimes Sing.
By 1989 he was dividing his time between Los Angeles, San Francisco and St. Louis while teaching some at Washington University, working extensively in various settings from jazz to film music to musical theatre. His longtime trio at this period with bassist Tom Kennedy and Roger Guth yielded much music and more relationships, performing numerous concerts including as the opening act for John Scofield, where Lenihan met pianist Marc Copland. They would later develop a professional relationship and collaboration. In 2000, as Director of Jazz Studies at Washington University, Lenihan founded a new concert program series for jazz and contemporary music in the Department of Music. In this position he authored six books, including Structural Functions in Jazz, a widely used music theory text. Other titles include Jazz Language Handbook, MAPS for Guitar, Integral Guitar, and Sonorus: Voicings for Piano. As Teaching Professor of Music he teaches courses in music theory, composition, improvisation, and performance practice. As well, he has conducted master classes with Pat Martino, Ralph Towner, Marc Copland, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Dave Liebman, Marc Copland, Gary Peacock Gary Husband, Dave Weckl, and many others.
By 2002 he began living parts of the year in Italy and initiating at Accademic Europea di Firenze the Summer Music Seminar, touring extensively, recording and playing clubs and festivals throughout Europe such as Ambria Festival, JazzIT, Dolce Vita Festival, major venues and festivals such as Casa del Jazz, Gregory's in Rome, Berlin Bb Club and numerous others throughout Europe, and recording with Antonio Figura, Ettore Fioravanti, Alberto Amato for both Caligola Records and Schema Rearwards Records, Milano.
Lenihan continues to compose, perform, teach and tour in new projects with Marc Copland, Tom Kennedy, Lucrezio de Seta and others.