William Banfield

Visiting Professor of Religion, Social Movements and Music
William Banfield headshot
wbanfield@hds.harvard.edu

Education

  • BM, New England Conservatory of Music
  • MTS, Boston University
  • DMA, University of Michigan

Profile

Willam (Bill) Banfield is an award-winning composer whose symphonies, operas, and chamber works have been performed and recorded by major symphonies across the country. He currently serves as the composer/curator in residence of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin. Banfield was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from President Biden for his career contributions of service in arts and education. He is Professor Emeritus and founding director of Africana Studies/Music and Society at Berklee College of Music. His previous appointments include Visiting Professor of Composition, University of Minnesota (2005); Visiting Atelier Professor, Princeton University (2003); Endowed Chair Humanities, Fine Arts, Professor of Music, founding Director of American Cultural Studies/Jazz, Popular, World Music Studies, University of St. Thomas (1997-2005); and Assistant Professor African American Studies/Music, Indiana University (1992-97).

Banfield is currently a research associate with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. He served as Pulitzer Prize judge in American music in 2010, 2016, and 2020; serves on the board of directors of ASCAP; and is currently a National Public Radio show host, having served as arts and culture correspondent for The Tavis Smiley Show. He was hired by Quincy Jones to write a national music curriculum and book for schools learning about American popular music culture in 2010. He served as W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow at Harvard University in 2002 and Contributing Editor of Cultural Studies and Jazz Publications for Scarecrow Press (2005). He is author of Landscapes in Color: Conversations With Black American Composers (2002/2023); Black Notes: Essays of A Musician Writing In A Post Album Age (2004); Cultural Codes: Makings Of A Black Music Philosophy (2010); Representing Black Music Culture (2011); Ethnomusicologizing: Essays On Music in the New Paradigms (2015); and Pat Patrick: American Musician and Cultural Visionary (Scarecrow Press, 2021).

Courses

All Harvard courses

Support

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