About Will

Background

Biography:

Will Angus is an acclaimed Sydney-based composer celebrated for his exceptional talent in crafting captivating orchestral hybrid compositions. Will has a unique approach to composing music, with a remarkable journey that began at age 13, Angus has garnered prestigious awards and set his sights on becoming a leading composer for the screen. Notably, he achieved the distinction of being the youngest composer ever to score a feature film. Will’s musical prowess encompasses a diverse portfolio that breathes life into various short films, enhancing their narratives through his evocative scores.

Will started his musical journey as an 8 year old, playing clarinet, less than two years later he was writing music and experimenting with different instruments. By the time Will was in High School he was composing music every evening, performing in multiple orchestras, ensembles and bands as a trumpet player, as well as making his own films in his free time. Will lead his school wind ensembles in his final year as ‘Head of Symphonic Winds’. This was also the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, as everyone did, Will struggled through this period, however, it allowed Will to take unique opportunities.

                  During the pandemic, Will composed the music for his first feature film (something he recommends you definitely don’t do during your final exams!) Although this made the workload extremely intense, Will became the youngest person to score a feature film. Throughout 2020 Will also had the opportunity to arrange the school song as singing wasn’t allowed due to the pandemic, this version of the song is still used over 6 years later. After ranking number 1 in Music Composition and Visual Arts, Will’s major work ‘Simultaneity’ was exhibited in ArtExpress at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Tamworth Regional Art Gallery and Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery.

After graduating High School, Will went straight to study a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. During his four year degree, Will had the opportunity to learn from some of Australia’s greatest composers including Dr Alison Cole, Dr Paul (Mac) McDermont, Dr Carl Vine, Prof. Paul Stanhope and many others. In his first year of University, Will released his first Soundtrack Album to the short film ‘When A Man Cries’ directed by Campbell De La Mare and by the end of the year Will had released an Epic Trailer Cover of ‘Way Down We Go’ by Kaleo. As of 2026, Will has had over 350,000 streams on this track.

                  Throughout his degree, Will continued scoring, working on student films and other early career films, allowing him to build a large networking of emerging creators, who years later, he is still working with consistently. By the end of his degree, Will had composed the music for over 20 media projects, had released his own solo EP and a few other singles. During this time, Will was also performing regularly in orchestras, musical bands and as a chamber musician. At the end of his degree, Will released his debut Album ‘A SUITE FEW YEARS’ which is a collection of short film and other media project suites that Will worked on during his time at the Sydney Conservatorium.

                 During University, Will worked as an Art Installer, specialising in Audio Visual installation at many galleries around Sydney and as an Audio Technician at Sydney Opera House and the International Convention Centre. Will worked on installing works by Tracy Moffatt, Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley, William Dobell, Ben Quilty and many, many more. He got the opportunity to work on 100’s of live music shows on Sydney’s most Iconic Stages, from ‘Sydney Symphony Orchestra Presents: Gladiator Live in Concert’ to the ’50 Years of DEVO Word Tour’, to the musical ‘In The Heights’ and everything in between.

Once Will graduated from University he began working with the Opera Australia Orchestra as their Production Coordinator. Here, Will works on every Opera Australia show in Sydney, planning and organising the orchestra materials, moving their gear and solving problems on the fly, night in and night out. He has worked on ‘Phantom of the Opera’ for Handel’s Opera on Sydney Harbour, ‘La Traviata’, ‘Carmen’, ‘La Boheme’, ‘Romeo and Juliete’ for the Australian Ballet… the list goes on! Will loves being a part of the orchestra’s community, getting to learn about how each instrument works and what music works and doesn’t work from some of the best orchestral musicians in Australia.

The Native Police (2026):

The film is set in 1884, and follows an Aboriginal Native Police officer as he escorts an Arrernte girl across desert Country, as violence forces a reckoning with identity and survival. This work was extremely important to me, it was my first time working on an Indigenous Australian story and as such, felt extremely close to home. Initially, I wanted to score for Yidaki (didgeridoo) as a soloist instrument and string orchestra. However with the director Charles Perkins, we decided against this as the spiritual connotations of the Yidaki go far beyond what is quite a depressing historical story, however we wanted something that would evoke similar emotions and as such landed on using acoustic steel string guitar as a similar function to the Yidaki.

                  The film has just started it’s festival run at the time of writing and has been played to sold out audiences three times at the 2026 Sydney Film Festival, coming runner-up in The First Nations Prize.

Cadence and Co Advertising Work (2026):

Working with Joshi Perera, I have been composing 30mins of music for Cadence and Co, an artisan Sydney based Architecture firm. This has been my first media project scoring ‘completely blind’ where I have a short brief, a website with some photos and some fun! It’s been great having a heap of creative freedom, getting to work with an old friend towards a library of music that suits all of their advertising purposes, from social media to (hopefully) large scale cinema adverts.

Everything, Sooner or Later (2026):

Everything, Sooner or Later is my second collaboration with L.A. based film director, Roman Acosta. It follows an emerging film maker as he struggles with following his heart or his passion. This movie shares emotions that a lot of screen creatives go through, do you leave your old life behind to try it in Hollywood or try and bring some of Hollywood to your old life? This is something that I have definitely struggled with and as such, I got to write music that was grounded in my personal experience.

The Last Shift (2025):

Juan Morales’s comedy short film ‘The Last Shift’ follows Hollywood, a character trying to make it as an actor as he has a crazy last shift working at his local convenience store. I got to write my first rock score for this film, falling into the comedic world was heaps of fun and working with Juan was very easy!

                  This film has toured the East coast of the US, being featured in Awesome Con Filmfest, Screenlight and the Indie Film Spotlight.

A SUITE FEW YEARS (2025):

A SUITE FEW YEARS is my debut album. The goal of this project was to shed light on music for independent media projects as I believe that there is heaps of incredible music being made for short and independent feature films that is really incredible, but very rarely gets heard beyond their initial festival runs. A SUITE FEW YEARS is made to highlight these projects, where there isn’t enough music to warrant a full album release but the art deserves to be presented on it’s own.

                  A SUITE FEW YEARS includes 13 tracks from over 5 years worth of my work. It has music from films, experimental video art and competition works. The album utilises recordings from Jonah Eskander (cello, piano), India Wilson (violin), Harry O’Brien (Guitar), Andrew Collins (Flute) and myself (Guitar, trombone, trumpet, Yidaki, percussion).

Where We End Up (2025):

Where We End Up is my first collaboration with L.A. based emerging director Roman Acosta. It follows an award nominated actor coming to terms with his new-found fame, diving deep into what it means to have emotion and be human. I loved working on this film, Roman is an incredible director who really allows me to have creative freedom whilst communicating his intentions and perspective of the emotions incredibly well.

                  This film has been shown at The LA Independent Film Showcase.

Wrong Family (2024):

Wrong Family is set in a suburban household where a trio of thieves targets what appears to be a perfectly normal family, only to realise nothing is what it seems as the night spirals into violence and paranoia. This was one of my favourite projects to work on, I had the opportunity to meld electronic and rock sounds to create a hybrid score that featured very heavily in this short.

                  Wrong Family has been screened all across the US. It won ‘Best Sci-Fi Film’ at the New York Independent Art Film Festival, screened at The Anthology Film Festival in Atlanta, The Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and the Screeners Film Festival in L.A.

Boxing Day (2023):

This film is set at the peak of a hot Australian Summer,  a fun-loving 8 year old boy struggles to come to terms with the disintegration of his family unit following the death of his older brother. Boxing Day doesn’t have much music, it doesn’t need it. The story by director Leigh Schilling is incredibly powerful and is enough to bring anyone to tears, I got to score the beginning and end of the film, helping to tie the story together and hammer home the emotional impact.

                  Boxing Day was screened at the Stafford Film Festival, The 2024 Emerging Filmmaker Awards with Berklee Film Festival, Beijing International Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Ivy Film Festival, Euroshorts Young Filmmakers Festival and Melbourne International Cineverse Festival.

A Driving Passion (2021):

A Driving Passion explores the highs and lows of amateur motorsport. This mini-

documentary delves into the story of Stig Richards, a lifelong car enthusiast and passionate amateur race driver having a less than perfect weekend.... But passions have to overcome obstacles. This score was largely wall to wall music, utilising different themes for different characters and moments. Will worked closely with the director Joshi Perera in order to make the music fit perfectly with the documentary, allowing it to carry the tonality without overbearing. The timeline for this project was very short, forcing him to learn to write efficiently whilst still outputting a result that the whole creative team was proud of.

When A Man Cries (2021):

When A Man Cries is a short film tackling ideas around toxic masculinity and depression. The film is an abstract representation of how carrying mental illness can affect a person’s day to day life. For this project Will had to design sounds to fit into the world whilst maintaining a minimalist and lonely feel to the score. He worked closely with director Campbell De La Mare to push his creative dream to new heights.

Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space (2021):

Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space is a comedic Sci-fi/horror film that pays homage to the great B grade cult classics of the 50’s – 70’s, while covering a number of the strange issues that have come up during this pandemic. For this project Will was the music composer, making him the youngest person to score a complete feature film. Along with the score, he had to compose music for the films trailer and promotional material giving him key experience in composing music for trailers.

Simultaneity (2020):

My aim with Simultaneity is to leave you with more questions than answers. The truth is, we know nothing about anything as our everything could be nothing. So who are we to give answers to the questions live throws at us? Time dictates everything we do. Everything is driven by time, yet we don't even know what time is. As Aristotle said, 'Time is the most unknown of all unknown things.' The more questions you ask, the more questions you will find, and the fewer answers you will have. Good luck finding your way out of this rabbit hole.

                  Simultaneity has been exhibited at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Tamworth Regional Art Gallery and Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery.