William Henry Caldwell is director of vocal and choral activities at Central State University. He holds degrees from Stillman College magna cum laude, and the University of Texas at Austin.  He attended the Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. Mr. Caldwell maintains a very active schedule as a baritone soloist. In December 1988, Mr. Caldwell traveled to London, England where he studied with Virginia Pleasants and Hugue Cuenod in Vevey, Switzerland. As part of the 1999 Fourth of July Celebration for the United States Embassy in Egypt, Mr. Caldwell performed as a guest soloist at the Cairo Opera House. In the summer of 2004, Mr. Caldwell studied and performed in Lucca, Italy.  He has performed as a baritone soloist with the Dayton Bach Society, Dayton Westminster Presbyterian Church May Festival, the Dayton Opera Association, The Blue Ash Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He is professor of music in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Central State University and serves as chairman of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts.  Mr. Caldwell is director of the Paul Robeson Cultural and Performing Arts Center.

Under his leadership, the Central State University Chorus has received international acclaim. In November 2009, the Central State University Chorus was invited to Passau, Germany to perform for ORF-TV, Musikantenstadl with a viewing audience of 7 million.  The Chorus has also performed in Paris, London, Stratford upon Avon, Canterbury, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Vatican, and Gut Aiderbichl near Salzburg, Austria. On several occasions the Chorus has performed with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. The Chorus has several recordings on the Telarc International Label and in 1994 the Chorus was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1997, Mr. Caldwell made his debut with the Cincinnati Pops singing the role of Cokey Lou in the one act opera Blue Monday by George Gershwin, recorded on the Telarc Label. He has sung the role of Elijah with the Dayton Philharmonic Chorus and has also performed the role of Fiorello in the Dayton Opera production of The Barber of Seville. Other operatic roles include, Junius, in The Rape of Lucretia, Bob, in the Old Maid and the Thief.  Mr. Caldwell will perform the role of Jim in Porgy and Bess for the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the Dayton Opera Association in October.  Mr. Caldwell has prepared Choruses of Erich Kunzel, Keith Lockhart, John Morris Russell, James Conlon, Neal Gittleman, Robert Porco, Earl Rivers, Chelsea Tipton, and Franz Welser Most.

Mr. Caldwell has served as baritone soloist in over 10 performances of the Annual Messiah Sing-In with the Dayton Bach Society.  He has also performed as a baritone soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Wright State University Orchestra and Chorus and the role of King Balthazar in the Dayton Opera Fun-actics holiday production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Mr. Caldwell made his debut as a baritone soloist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000 in a performance of the Mozart Requiem with Neal Gittleman as conductor. Mr. Caldwell’s teachers have included Dr. James Arthur Williams, Willa Stewart, David Garvey, Walter Ducloux, Andrew White, and William McGraw.

Mr. Caldwell was guest conductor of the Ohio All-State Choir at the OMEA convention in 1997. He is a recipient of the 1998 Benjamin Hooks Image Award and holds membership in the National Association of Teachers of Singing, where he serves as an adjudicator, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society, and Kiwanis Club International. Mr. Caldwell serves on a number of boards including the Dayton Philharmonic, The Bach Society of Dayton, the Miriam Rosenthal Trust Fund, and the Kettering Children’s Choir. Mr. Caldwell also currently serves as choir director at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio.