William Newton

     William Newton (b.1998) is a Filipino-American percussionist, educator, arranger, and composer. He holds an MM degree in Percussion Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where he had the privilege of studying with renowned musicians such as Michael Burritt, Chip Ross, Rich Thompson, Shane Shanahan, and Brian Kushmaul. Prior to Eastman, William earned his BM degree from the University of South Carolina under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Herring.

Currently, William is the Director of Percussion Studies at Radford University, where he leads the award-winning percussion ensemble and teaches private lessons. Additionally, he served as the Drumline Coordinator for Shenandoah University’s Marching Band, arranging music and overseeing the drumline's development in its formative years. Outside of academia, William co-founded Wildlight Publications LLC, a publishing company that promotes and supports emerging composers and percussionists. Under his leadership, Wildlight has grown into a dynamic platform for artistic collaboration, offering educational resources, compositions, and projects such as the Lightpost blog and the Set to Fire podcast.

William maintains an active performance schedule as a member of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Amick-Newton Duo, and the Wildlight Collective. He is passionate about expanding the boundaries of contemporary percussion music and continually advocates for works by new and diverse composers such as Nate Werth, JaRon Brown, Paul Lansky, Austin Keck, Ben Hausman, and Emmanuel Sejourne. William has also contributed as a performer to the premiere recordings of Under Strange Stars by John Fitz Rogers, Iunctio by Michael Burritt, Until Flesh is Torn from Bone by Brant Blackard, Azure’s Remoulade by JaRon Brown, Fragmented Shards of Crystallized Water by JaRon Brown, Flora by Savannah Fowler, and Fast Forward by Joseph Schwantner.

He is a proud educational artist for Vic Firth and Zildjian.