William Phemister is a graduate of the Juilliard School, the École Normale de Musique (Paris), and the Peabody Conservatory, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His mentors include Josef Raieff, Edward Steuermann, Jules Gentil and Leon Fleisher. Honors include a Fulbright Grant to France and 1st prizes in important piano competitions such as the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Award, the Debut Award of the Young Musicians Foundation. Phemister has participated in major international competitions such as the Geneva Concours and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
His concert career has taken him throughout the U.S. and around the world. In recent years, he has performed and held seminars in Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, North Korea, and China. In addition, Professor Phemister is the author of American Piano Concertos (College Music Society), the editor of the multi-volume Masterworks Piano Library and is a published composer with the Fred Bock Music Company (Bock’s Best Friends). He has commissioned a piano concerto from Jacob Bancks which he will premiere with the South Dakota Symphony in March 2008
He has produced nine recordings and continues to compose, edit, transcribe and record many piano compositions. A deeply committed teacher of young musicians, William Phemister recently retired from teaching at the Wheaton Conservatory of Music for thirty-five years, but still continues to guide a small, select group of students. He lives with his wife, Mary Anne, in Wheaton, Illinois.
