biography

Will Cabison is a conductor and pianist, whose work spans orchestral, contemporary, and operatic repertoire. Their recent seasons include conducting fellowships with the National Repertory Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where they prepared and covered a wide range of programs and led performances throughout the 2024–2025 season. They returned to the Buffalo Philharmonic in 2025–2026 as a Cover Conductor, following their guest conducting debut with the orchestra in the previous year. Cabison has also served as Assistant Music Director at New York University, contributing to new theatre and interdisciplinary projects at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Cabison’s recent work features Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 4 at Alice Tully Hall, collaborations on new music and theatre works, and performances of repertoire by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Carlos Simon, Roberto Sierra, and Anna Clyne. Their vocal background includes extensive work with Mannes Opera as conductor, assistant coach, and harpsichordist, covering repertoire from Cavalli to contemporary works. Credits include L’enfant et les sortilèges, La Calisto, In the Green, and David Lang’s crowd out with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, as well as earlier work with the Los Robles Master Chorale.

As a composer, Cabison’s music has been performed at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Their vocal work Feet Searching for Sound premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2024, and their chamber piece In Memoriam: Miki Gorman premiered at Lincoln Center the same season. Their choral work Moonrise won the Los Angeles Master Chorale Young Composers Contest.

Cabison is a Teaching Artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, supporting its education and community initiatives. They hold both a Master of Music and a Professional Studies Diploma in Orchestral Conducting from the Mannes School of Music, where they twice received the Carl Schachter Award. While at UCLA, they also received the Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Piano Performance and received the Dean’s Medal at graduation.

Originally from Los Angeles, they now reside in Brooklyn and are based in New York.