ARTISTIC PROFILE

William Garfield Walker is a four-time recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award from 2022 to 2025. He is increasingly recognised for intense, expressive and probing performances.

Recent distinctions include his selection by members of the Vienna Philharmonic for the AAF Faber Fellowship of the Salzburg Festival and the Solti Foundation U.S. Elizabeth Buccheri Residency as Solti Conducting Fellow at Washington National Opera. He was later chosen by Riccardo Muti for his Italian Opera Academy at the Tokyo Spring Festival, working on Verdi’s Attila. His recent work also includes conducting the Wiener Concertverein in the Musikverein for a CD release. He has additionally received First Prize in The American Prize in Conducting (professional orchestra division).

In Vienna Walker is Chief Conductor of the Nova Orchester Wien, an ensemble that rethinks how a symphony orchestra can work in the twenty first century. Under his leadership the orchestra has been praised by Die Presse as a “visionary Viennese sound culture” and has performed a wide symphonic repertoire from Bruckner and Mahler to Sibelius, Prokofiev and Shostakovich at major Viennese venues including the Musikverein and Konzerthaus.

With Nova Orchester Wien he has led collaborations such as a 2020 digital concert for the G20 Economic Forum and a 2024 performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in collaboration with the International Bruckner Society for Bruckner 200. The orchestra has introduced Austrian premieres of works by composers such as William Grant Still, Lili Boulanger, Jennifer Higdon, Florence Price and Germaine Tailleferre. In 2025 the orchestra and Walker became Cultural Partners of UNICEF in recognition of their cultural and humanitarian engagement.

Walker completed conducting studies at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. He has further developed his craft with conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Michail Jurowski.

Before pursuing conducting he was active as a professional cellist, studying with Richard Hirschl of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and taking part in masterclasses with Natalia Gutman and Yo Yo Ma, and performing under conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski and Riccardo Muti. Walker studied cello at the Royal College of Music in London.

Updated 2025