William Waldrop
Broadway Music Director, Conductor and Pianist, William Waldrop, currently serves as the Associate Conductor for Broadway’s longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera. In 2017 he finished a highly celebrated run as Music Director and Conductor of the Broadway revival of Cats at the Neil Simon Theatre. Equally comfortable on the podium with the orchestra on stage or conducting from the pit, Maestro Waldrop has been hailed for his ‘dynamic conducting’ and has been praised in cities all over the US and abroad.
Waldrop is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras throughout the United States, including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Lexington Philharmonic, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Greenville Symphony Orchestra.
Waldrop has been associated with The Phantom of the Opera since 2008. In addition to working with the Broadway company, he is also the Associate Musical Supervisor for the current international tour which launched in 2019. In 2018, Waldrop was the Musical Supervisor for a new production in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has also been involved with other productions worldwide, including Oberhausen, Germany (Associate Musical Supervisor), the US National Tour – Music Box (Music Director) and Las Vegas (Assistant Conductor).
In 2014, Waldrop completed a 30-city tour as the Music Director and Conductor of the revival of Evita (Broadway National Tour) and conducted the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in Washington, D.C. for the tour’s final performances. Prior to leading the very successful national tour, he was the Associate Conductor for the Broadway production at the Marquee Theatre starring Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris.
In addition to working with other esteemed musical artists such as Michael Lynche and Leona Lewis, Waldrop has collaborated (as a conductor, music director or pianist) with many Broadway and cabaret stars, including Betty Buckley, Rachel York, Christiane Noll, and Klea Blackhurst. Waldrop has also played or conducted in the pits of other Broadway shows including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, On The Town and Fiddler on The Roof. He has led chamber ensemble productions of Grey Gardens (Bay Street Theatre) South Pacific (Asolo Repertory Theatre) and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Off-Broadway).
As a composer, Waldrop premiered his brand new solo concert Still, and Still Moving: The Music of William Waldrop at New York City’s famed (and former) Metropolitan Room. Waldrop’s music has also been heard in other popular NYC venues such as Birdland, The Laurie Beechman Theatre and New World Stages.
An accomplished vocal coach, Waldrop accompanies and advises many star clients performing in current Broadway productions, national tours and beyond. Also an active educator, he leads regular master classes throughout New York City for such groups as The Growing Studio, Broadway Classroom, Broadway in Motion and Broadway Workshop.
Waldrop’s extensive experience on Broadway as both a conductor and pianist and his love of the American Songbook have made him a sought after conductor and one of the best and brightest new faces on the symphonic pops stage today.
Waldrop received his Master’s of Music degree from The Peabody Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor’s of Music degree from The University of Mississippi.