William Woodard

William Woodard is a pianist from Illinois currently in his second year with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. During the Met’s 2022–23 season, he was an assistant conductor for La Traviata and covered the role of Boleslao Lazinski in the company’s revival of Giordano’s Fedora. He was also a rehearsal pianist and harpsichordist for Il Barbiere di Siviglia at New Orleans Opera. This summer, he will join the coaching staff at Wolf Trap Opera as chorusmaster for Don Giovanni and Faust before making his company debut at San Francisco Opera as First Pianist in Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. During the Met’s 2021–22 season, he was an assistant conductor for the holiday production of The Magic Flute, in addition to his performances in the Lindemann Program’s Patron Concert of opera scenes, annual recital series, and Met Orchestra Workshop. Prior to his time at the Met, he was a coaching fellow at Wolf Trap Opera, where he served as a rehearsal pianist and coach on Der Freischütz and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and as chorusmaster for La Traviata, Holst’s Sāvitri, and Viardot’s Cendrillon. While a member of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera, he was assistant conductor for Don Giovanni and the pianist/coach for a series of newly commissioned one-act operas as part of WNO’s American Opera Initiative. In 2019, he made his Carnegie Hall debut as part of Renée Fleming’s SongStudio. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, where he was a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar, and a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. While attending Manhattan School of Music, he received the Helen Cohn Award for Chamber Music and the Jensen Scholarship for Opera Accompanying and was the winner of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition.