William Gardiner is an Australian composer currently studying at the Yale School of Music in the United States.

Born in 1987 in New South Wales, William Gardiner previously attended the University of Sydney, where he received degrees in Arts and Law. In Australia Gardiner studied with several of the nations leading composers, including Matthew Hindson, Paul Stanhope, Anne Boyd, Michael Smetanin and Damien Ricketson.

William is the product of a diverse musical pedigree. He was born to a pair of immensely passionate early music enthusiasts, and spent his earliest years immersed in the music of Bach and others, as performed by the likes of Ton Koopman, the Kuijken brothers and the Savall family. The onset of teenager-hood was accompanied by the revelation of rock music, leading to William taking up the drum set and contributing to his strong rhythmic sense. During his later school years, an interest in composing was provoked by hearing the music of composers such as Astor Piazzolla, Latvian Pēteris Vasks, George Crumb and Alfred Schnittke. Upon finishing high school, William’s first compositional efforts, works written in imitation of Bach and Piazzolla, received perfect scores in the matriculation exams, resulting in performances at the Sydney Opera House.

More recently, William has found inspiration in the inventiveness and beauty of music by Animal Collective and the emotive instrumental masterpieces of Canada’s Do Make Say Think.

2009 saw the release of the Onliving EP, the first original statement from this promising new voice in contemporary music.