Will Hopkins (b. 1999) is an American percussionist, drummer, educator, producer, improviser and composer based in New York City. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Will moved to New York City in 2017 and has since then performed with numerous groups and ensembles in a broad array of styles and aesthetics.
In the 2023-2024 season, Will is performing with the Metropolitan Opera, the American Composers Orchestra, and the New York Choreographic Institute. He has performed with the Juilliard Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, Fort Greene Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, New York Repertory Orchestra, Columbia University Orchestra, Manhattan Collective Orchestra and the Texas Festival Orchestra. He has performed under the batons of Sir Antonio Pappano, Dame Jane Glover, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Marco Armiliato, Simone Young, Evan Rogister, Paolo Carignani, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Oksana Lyniv, Giancarlo Guerrero, Xian Zhang and Mei-Ann Chen at venues including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Metropolitan Opera House, Alice Tully Hall, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Symphony Space, Rose Theater and the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
As an active performer of new and contemporary music, Will has performed with AXIOM, Tactus, New Juilliard Ensemble, the Center for Innovation in the Arts, and as a soloist with Manhattan School of Music Percussion Ensemble. He has collaborated on premieres by composers including Eunike Tanzil, Hannah Ishizaki, Alexandros Darna, Rick Baitz, Derek Cooper, Diana Syrse, Paul Desenne, Yangfan Xu and Paul Frehner. His coaches have included Daniel Druckman, Steve Schick, Steven Mackey, Jeffrey Milarsky, Andy Akiho, Sandbox Percussion, Nadia Sirota, Todd Meehan, Jude Traxler, Mike Perdue, and Walter Thompson. In 2022 he appeared as a featured soloist with Juilliard Dance in Aaron Sherber's reconstruction of Canto Hondo (1937) for solo dancer, oboe, clarinet, and percussion by Henry Cowell and original choreohraphy by Martha Graham, with coaching by Terese Capucilli, Juilliard Dance faculty and Artistic Director Laureate of the Martha Graham Dance Company.
As a solo musician, Will was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2018 New York International Percussion Competition and was a 1st Place Winner at the 2019 Majoaja International Percussion Competition in Tampere, Finland. He was a finalist at the 2021 Great Plains International Marimba Competition, and most recently an invited artist for the 2022 World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany and the 2022 TROMP Percussion Competition and Festival in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
As an educator, Will currently maintains a private studio and is on faculty with the Harmony Program. He served two years as a Teaching Fellow in the Music Advancement Program (MAP) at Juilliard and one year with the Morse Artist Teaching Fellowship.
Will received his BM from Manhattan School of Music in 2021 and his MM from The Juilliard School in 2023. His teachers include Christopher Lamb, Greg Zuber, Duncan Patton, Markus Rhoten, Kyle Zerna, Daniel Druckman, She-e Wu, Billy Drummond, John Riley, Kenny Washington, Javier Diaz and Glen Velez. He is a recipient winner of the 2023 Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship.
Aside from music, Will likes chess, reading, and coffee.