Bio

Will Yager is a versatile bassist/improviser committed to experimental music, improvisation, and collaborating with living composers in the creation of new solo and chamber repertoire for the double bass. He is a founding member of the soprano/double bass duo LIGAMENT and improvising trio Wombat. Performance highlights include appearances at the University of Iowa Center for New Music, High Zero Festival, Experimental Sound Studio’s Quarantine Concerts, Omaha Under the Radar, SEAMUS National Conference, Big Ears Festival, Feed Me Weird Things, and the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, where he was a Robert Black Double Bass Fellow. Yager is also a founding member and currently serves on the board of the nonprofit organization Bass Players for Black Composers.

As members of LIGAMENT, Anika Kildegaard and Will Yager have been Ensemble Fellows at New Music on the Point (Vermont) and the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy). Other performance highlights include appearances at the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival and Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound 2021. Recent seasons have included serving as ensemble-in-residence for Washington D.C.’s District New Music Coalition, a winter tour with saxophone duo Ogni Suono, residencies at the University of Idaho and University of Iowa, and a new collaboration with the composition department at the Peabody Conservatory. They have premiered many new works, and have an upcoming album of pieces written expressly for the duo.

Wombat, along with Justin Comer and Carlos Cotallo Solares, is an improvising trio dedicated to experimental and intermedia performance. Wombat has performed at the Oh My Ears Festival (Phoenix, AZ), MOXsonic Experimental Electronic Music festival, and the University of Iowa Center for New Music. Wombat has several self-produced recordings available on Bandcamp, including their new cassette tape Burnt Ends.

Will holds degrees from the University of Iowa, University of Tennessee, and Maryville College. His principal teachers include Volkan Orhon and Jean-François Charles. He is currently based in Baltimore, MD.

If you’re interested in lessons, please get in touch!