Name: A Tribute to William Hayes: River Raisin Ragtime Revue
Start: 2025-11-02T15:00:00-05:00
Location: First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti

A Tribute to William Hayes: River Raisin Ragtime Revue

William Hayes has been a part of R4, serving as Music
Director, arranger, composer, and active board member. He has arranged and edited literally hundreds of period orchestrations for R4. These works have been presented in concerts and have been documented in print and via recordings. Hayes has composed original music for R4 to commemorate specific events and enhance R4 projects.
A few of William's many accomplishments for R4 include:
• at the request of the composer, orchestrating Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom’s “River Raisin Rag” for R4
• orchestrating a collection of MacArthur Fellow Reginald R. Robinson’s rags for a recording named one of the top 30 recordings of 2017 by the Los Angeles Jazz Scene
• orchestrating Scott Joplin’s opera “Treemonisha”
• composing “Maple City Rag” as a commission for the Adrian, MI bicentennial
• arranging music for a University of Michigan grant-sponsored recording featuring bass-baritone Daniel Washing ton and R4. Fanfare Magazine described the recording as “one of the most important albums I’ve reviewed in my years at Fanfare. This collection of spirituals and African American theater songs from the turn of the last century provides a missing link in the development of American musical culture. The instrumental arrangements, all but one by William Hayes, place this music squarely in the context of its time, with the River Raisin Ragtime
Revue playing like the finest vaudeville orchestra.”
William Hayes has been a force in the community advocating for children and the arts. He founded the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra, where he focused on providing children with opportunities in music they otherwise would not have experienced. He has actively participated on community service organization boards and in 2020, along with his wife Verna, was awarded the Outstanding Service Medal by Creative Washtenaw.
This tribute concert will highlight William’s work as arranger, editor and composer, and will feature stories shared by his students, friends, and colleagues.