Regina Willman papers, 1934-1971

Regina Willman (1914-1965) was an American classical composer during the twentieth century. Born in Burns, Wyoming and the wife of fellow composer and University of Wyoming music professor Allan Arthur Willman, she earned her B.A. in Music from the University of Wyoming (1945) and her M.A. in Music from the University of New Mexico (1961). She also engaged in private study with composers Darius Milhaud and Roy Harris and studied music at a number of institutions in the United States and Europe, including the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and the Conservatory of Lausanne in Switzerland. Willman composed a number of classical pieces between the 1930s and 1960s, including the orchestral works "Design for Orchestra I" (1948) and "Design for Orchestra II" (1953), and the ballets "Steel Mill" (1941) and "The Legend of the Willow Plate" (1949). She was also twice a resident composer at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico (1956-1957 and 1960-1961).