Will Yager

Dr. Will Yager is a versatile double bassist committed to experimental music, improvisation, jazz, 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 Bang on Can’s Long Play Festival, Big Ears Festival, University of Iowa Center for New Music, International Society of Bassists Convention, SPLICE Festival, High Zero Festival, Experimental Sound Studio’s Quarantine Concerts, Omaha Under the Radar, SEAMUS National Conference, and the Feed Me Weird Things concert series. 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 premiered many new works and have an upcoming album of pieces written expressly for the duo. Notable performances include appearances at the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound, New Music on the Point, and the Cortona Sessions for New Music. Recent concert seasons have included residencies at the University of Idaho and University of Iowa, a collaboration with the composition department at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and tours of the midwest and east coast.Their upcoming 2024-25 season will include a return to the Peabody Institute, a residency with the University of Iowa Center for New Music, a winter tour with clarinetist Jean-François Charles, and a spring tour with voice/flute ensemble SydeBoob Duo.

Wombat, along with saxophonist Justin Comer and guitarist Carlos Cotallo Solares, is an improvising trio dedicated to experimental and intermedia performance. Wombat has performed at the Oh My Ears Festival, MOXsonic Experimental Electronic Music festival, the University of Iowa Center for New Music, as well as tours across the US. Wombat has several recordings available on Bandcamp, including their most recent recording Burnt Ends. Will is also an active jazz musician and has performed with Gregory Tardy, Damani Phillips, Mark Boling, Steve Grismore, and others in the Iowa and Tennessee areas. He has an upcoming piano trio album with Dr. Geoffrey Dean and Hunter Deacon slated for release in 2025.

In addition to his varied performance activity, Will is a devoted educator. He currently teaches double bass at the University of Northern Iowa, and spends his summers on faculty at the North Carolina Governor’s School West. Prior to his position at UNI, Will taught at the University of North Alabama and Maryville College.

Dr. Yager holds degrees from the University of Iowa, University of Tennessee, and Maryville College.