William Reed

William Leonard Reed (known as Will Reed) (16 October 1910 – 15 April 2002) was an English classical composer and pianist.

Life Reed was educated at Dulwich College and Jesus College, Oxford, obtaining a degree in literae humaniores in 1933 and a diploma in education in 1934. Whilst still at Oxford, he won a composition prize for a sonata for violin and piano, and Sir Hugh Allen (professor of music at Oxford) recommended that he should study at the Royal College of Music. Reed studied composition with Herbert Howells and conducting with Constant Lambert. He travelled to Scandinavia on a scholarship in 1936, meeting the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and lectured in Scandinavia on behalf of the British Council in 1936 and 1937. In 1939, he obtained a D Mus degree from the University of Oxford.