William Campbell Sampler

Track 7 to the soundtrack for "Hunger Ward" by Spin Film, nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) for best documentary short.
The official film soundtrack will be out on April 11, 2021. Click here to pre-order or listen: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/williamcampbell/hunger-ward-original-film-soundtrack

Mekkia's Reflections & Merry Go Round

Saxophone Concerto, Mvt. 2  Deep Peace

I Go Among The Trees, for SATB Chorus & Piano

"Veni, Redemptor (Come, Redeemer)" is a new composition based on a hymn by St. Ambrose of Milan in the 4th Century.  It was written for the St. Ambrose University Chamber Singers conducted by Nathan Windt, and I am very grateful to them.

St. Ambrose's hymn was originally titled, "Intende qui regis Israel," and the words invite Christ's presence into this world through the mystery of the Virgin Mary in explicitly trinitarian language.  It is traditionally sung in the season of Advent.  The music sounds very much like what we would consider to be a chant, but in a style that was specific to Ambrose, and came to be known as Milanese or Ambrosian in style.  This chant style is still practiced in Milan today.   

I folded the original melody and words of St. Ambrose wrote into my music as foundational material, adding harmony parts, and changing the key at a couple points.  The original melody is always present even as other parts are added to it, and my hope is that these parts add to the meaning of the text, and add interest for our contemporary sensibilities.  It is composed for the standard four chorus parts of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.  

The music was commissioned by Richard Geiger and I'm very proud to be asked by him to compose this music.  My concept is to wed the old chant with some new harmonies and melodic ideas.  So to stay true to the prayerful nature of the words, it starts out quite slow and quiet with the women invoking the chant as sung by the men of the choir.  The music gradually builds and reaches its high point during two separate verses about the light of God shining and shimmering.  For this music all the voices are high in their range, particularly the sopranos.  The music fades away and ends with a recasting of the chant and a final Amen sung by all.

Veni, Redemptor – O Come, Redeemer

1
Veni, Redemptor gentium;
Ostende partum virginis;
Miretur omne saeculum.
Talis decet partus Deo.
[ O Come, Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest Thy virgin birth:
Let every age adoring fall;
Such birth befits the God of all. ]
2
Begotten of no human will,
But of the Spirit, You are still
The Word of God in flesh arrayed,
The promised Fruit to man displayed.
3
The virgin's honor still remains
Yet from within her the womb swells.
Virtue's standards shine and shimmer
God within his temple ever dwells.
4
Procedit e thalamo suo,
Pudoris aulo regia,
Geminae gigans substantiae
Alacris ut currat viam.
5
O equal to the Father, Thou!
Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.
6
Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
And darkness breathe a newer light,
Where endless faith shall shine serene,
And twilight never intervene
7
Sit Christe Rex piissime,
tibi Patrique gloria,
cum Spiritu Paraclito,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.

Veni, Redemptor (Come, Redeemer), for SATB Chorus

Piano Quintet, by William Campbell.  
I: Light Within
II. Hymn to Beauty 
III. Claritas Unfolding 
IV. Shining Brightly

The Piano Quintet was written in 2010-11 to honor a humanitarian organization, and is intended to express the outward expression of inner beauty. Commissioned to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Churches United (of the Quad Cities Area), it was first performed with myself at the piano with the Maia String Quartet on April 28, 2011.

While composing the music I was reading John O’Donohue’s "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace," and reflecting on words that specifically call people to action as a reflection of the gift of grace. I was also traveling a lot and interacted with people all over the world from many backgrounds. It became increasingly obvious to me that individual character as evidenced in good works can have a powerfully positive effect beyond those directly impacted, and for a sustained time. As a composer, then, I wanted to write something full of positive energy.

The music unfolds over four movements, and is characterized by simple harmonies, syncopated rhythms, and compact melodies. The listener will be aware of conversations between various instruments as passages are imitated or answered in different ways. These are intended to be reflective of the inner life of meditative prayer, and the ways that certain questions are answered within us, as the light of understanding moves from one idea to another allowing for clarity and outward expression.

01 Piano Quintet, Movement I

Into the Garden (preview recording)

For World Piano Day, here's something I've been working on for the next album. Originally premiered in the beautiful chapel on the campus of St. Martin's University in Lacey, Washington, "Seeking Peace" evolved out of a film score, and has taken on a gentle life of its own.
#celebratepianoday #pianoday2018 #pianoday

Seeking Peace (preview recording)

"Coyote Dances" is a new work for orchestra by William Campbell, and premiered on March 31, 2012 by the Quad City Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Russell Smith.  It also exists as a concert band piece.
The music starts quietly enough, but soon builds to an exuberant mixed-meter section, and ends with a heroic exclamation point.  To read a preview please visit: http://www.rcreader.com/music/william-campbell-coyote-dances-preview/
For more information about the composer please visit:
http://www.williamcampbellmusic.com 

Coyote Dances, for orchestra

The documentary film LIFEBOAT showcases refugees desperate enough to risk their lives in rubber boats leaving Libya in the middle of the night, despite a high probability of drowning. With few resources but certain that civil society must intervene, volunteers from a German non-profit risk the waves of the Mediterranean to pluck refugees from sinking rafts. 
Nominated for an Academy Award (Oscars) for Best Documentary Short, and nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy.

Composer William Campbell has created a haunting, original score for this award winning film. Borne out of a decades-long working partnership with filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald, Campbell imbues a story of refugees at sea with rich musical atmospherics that enrich and deepen the film's emotional impact. This cue is the final music with four separate screen changes to include ending scene, dedication card, credits, and fade. It contains almost all the main themes used throughout the 24-minute documentary short.

Lifeboat

Cue 7, Lifeboat (ending credits)

Sons & Daughters of Thunder is a drama about the "Lane Debates" in 1843 concerning the abolition of slaves, and is centered on Thedore Wells and a young Harriet Beecher (Stowe).

Opening, Walnut Hills 1834

Composer & pianist William Campbell creates emotive and richly dimensional music that elevates listeners with its prismatic beauty. His music for films includes work nominated for two Oscars in 2021 and 2019, a regional Emmy in 2020, and earned him the IMPA award for best film score in 2020. 
Recent solo albums include All In Due Time (2021) and the Billboard-charting Together We Rise (2023).

William Campbell Sampler

William Campbell Music