William Gorton

William Gorton is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting at Arizona State University. Before attending ASU, William served as the Founding Artistic Director of the Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale. At ASU, William has directed the Early Music Chamber Choir and ASU Women’s Chorus, been Assistant Director of ASU Symphonic Chorale and Choral Union, and Chorus Master for ASU Lyric Opera Theater. With a Masters in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, William has had a busy career as a professional tenor and voice teacher, performing numerous opera roles and oratorios with organizations such as Sacramento Opera, Opera Pacific, Pacific Repertory Opera, Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, National Messiah Festival at Bethany College, North Bay Opera, West Bay Opera, Orchestra X of Houston, Berkeley Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera Guild, and others. Choral work has included section leader with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and performances under the batons of conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Roger Norrington, and others. William spent a year teaching piano, voice, and choir at the Adventist College of Sagunto in Spain, and is also a composer. His hymn, O God in Whom We Live, is published in Worship and Song: for United Methodists. He recently served as music director/accompanist in a production of Mozart’s Magic Flute with Three Oaks Opera Company. William is currently employed as Adjunct Professor of Voice at Paradise Valley Community College.