Biography

An Emmy Award and Pulitzer Prize nominee composer, conductor, and arranger, Will Schaefer was educated at Mary D. Bradford High School in Kenosha (Distinguished Alumni Award), De Paul University (BM, Distinguished Alumni Award), and Northwestern University (MA and graduate work extending into study for a Doctor of Music degree). During the Korean War, he was assistant conductor and arranger for the 5th Army Band, Special Services at Fort Sheridan, Illinois (1951-1954) where he wrote music for Radio Free Europe, the Voice of America, and local stations. Coming to New York after his military service, he wrote for well-known music publishers and composed, conducted and arranged for radio, television, commercials (Pillsbury, Post Cereals, Ford, Chevrolet and over seven hundred others), industrial films and records. While there, he arranged for the Buddy Rich and Count Basie bands and thirteen Broadway musicals ("What Makes Sammy Run?", "Kicks & Company", "The Prince and the Showgirl", "Spotlight" and others). In Los Angeles from 1966 for Walt Disney Studios, he orchestrated about thirty episodes of The Magical World of Disney (1954) (aka "The Wonderful World of Disney") and sections of many Disney films plus music for the live attractions "Pirates of the Caribbean", "America the Beautiful", "Bear Country", "It's a Small World", and "Innoventions". His over-150 songs and instrumentals include "Midnight Matinee", "Caribeguine, "Autumn Beguine", "Overture - Fanfare and Capriccio", and "Ballada" plus others.