Dr. William L. Higgins is a long-time faculty member at Henderson State University, coming from his native state of Missouri. He is a graduate of Truman State University, where he studied vocal music education under Clay and Kathy Dawson. He holds graduate degrees in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma (Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts) where he studied with Sean Daniel and Dennis Shrock, and was a two-time recipient of the prestigious Benton-Schmidt Vocal Scholarship.
Dr. Higgins has performed in opera and musical theatre productions throughout the southern and midwestern United States, singing with Cimarron Circuit Opera Company, Opera Oklahoma, and The Pollard Theater. He has appeared as concert soloist with Canterbury Choral Society, Society of Composers, College Music Society, The Composers’ Alliance, and Pine Bluff, AR Symphony Orchestra. He remains active as a soloist and recitalist, and performs regularly with HSU Department of Music and HSU Theatre.
As an active choral musician, he has led choirs for Arkansas Governor’s School and for church choirs in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Currently, he is choral director for First United Methodist Church, Arkadelphia, where he has served for over twenty years. He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, College Music Society, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.