About William

William Zeitler is a premier composer of today—his music is played on six continents. He has numerous published and commissioned works to his credit, produced seven CDs, performed around the world, and can be heard performing in concert as well as film & TV.

In 1995 William stumbled across a recording by Bruno Hoffmann of the music by Mozart for the glass armonica. "This is really beautiful—I'm going to do this!" Master glassblower Gerhard Finkenbeiner of Waltham, WA (alas, no longer with us) blew a set of glasses for William, and the rest of the instrument was fabricated in Seattle where William lived at the time. Then—unable to find a teacher—William taught himself how to play it.

William is currently collaborating with Cal-Glass for Research to manufacture glass armonicas. William paid his own tuition and living expenses through the California Institute of the Arts (supplemented by a California State Scholarship awarded for academic achievement) building harpsichords and restoring pianos, so he is comfortable in a shop setting. He blew glass for 2 years to understand the medium (as William says: "I don't need to blow the glasses myself, but I must have some idea what I'm talking about when I'm talking to a real glassblower). He also holds a Lifetime Teaching Credential in college-level Mathematics and has taught statistics and calculus, so, as William says, "I can speak 'engineering' and access the scientific literature on the physics of glass bells". Combined with Cal-Glass's decades of precision glass fabrication expertise, they expect to have their first glass armonica 'out the door' in early 2008 (although R&D is difficult to schedule). See the Modern Marvels segment about William making glass armonicas, filmed at Cal-Glass (History Channel Series: Modern Marvels—" Ben Franklin Tech" which premiered May 25, 2006)

Click here for William's catalog of CDs.

A suggestive list of William's clients and performances would include:

711 Productions (Hong Kong)
Akron Symphony (OH)
Alaska Airlines
Bellevue Botanical Gardens (Bellevue, WA)
Beverly Hills Affaire in the Garden (CA)
Boeing
Burbank Public Library (CA)
Calabasas Pumpkin Festival (CA)
California State Capitol Museum
Cerritos Community College
Christ Unity Church (San Diego)
Close To My Heart Corp.
The Cosmic American Music Festival (Joshua Tree, CA)
Crested Butte Music Festival (CO)
Daughters of the American Revolution (CA Regional)
Disneyland Resort
Echo Bay Historical Society (Echo Bay, WA)
Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA)
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research (Seattle, WA)
Getty Research Institute (Seattle, WA)
Hokum Hall (West Seattle, WA)
Huntington Library (Pasadena, CA)
International Printers Museum (Carson, CA)
Inventor's Museum (Akron, OH)
Kronos String Quartet
Los Angeles County Fair
Los Angeles Unified School District
Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival (CA)
Legacy Academy (Valencia, CA)
Mission Viejo Country Club (CA)
Missouri Historical Society (as part of the Franklin 300th Exhibit)
Microsoft
Modesto Art Museum (CA)
Murphy & Associates (Seattle, WA)
New Town Plaza (Hong Kong)
Orange Blossom Festival (Riverside, CA)
Oregon Country Fair
Orchestra Seattle (WA)
Qualcomm Corp.
Questhaven (Escondido, CA)
Seattle Philharmonic (WA)
Seattle Symphony (WA)
Studio City Rotary Club Art Fair (CA)
Thornton Winery (Temecula, CA)
UC Riverside (CA)
UCLA Neuroscience Institute
Victoria Gardens (Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
VillageFest (Palm Springs, CA)
Warner Brothers Studios
Weyerhauser
Whole Children, Whole Planet Expo (Los Angeles, CA)
Woodland Hills Rotary Club Art Faire (CA)

Film Scores include:

Wooly Boys starring Peter Fonda and Kris Kristofferson. Music by two-time Emmy winning composer Hummie Mann
King of California starring Michael Douglas. Music by David Robbins.
Terra
Taking Chance (an HBO Special)

With many local TV appearances throughout the country William has been interviewed and is featured in articles by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News & World Report and on NPR’s radio program “The Morning Edition”.

Live performances by William Zeitler are an experience that will remain with you for a very long time. This virtuoso, composer and scholar of the glass armonica will complement your private event, and bookings are available through bookings or by calling William at 323-791-8112.