Sharon J. Willis, Composer and Conductor is                                                                         Founder and Director of Americolor Opera                                                                           Alliance.  The composer has premiered ten operas                                                           to date: The Opera Singer (inspired by the life and                                                             struggles of opera singer hopefuls including the                                                                 career efforts of 19^th Century soprano artist                                                                       ‘Sissieretta Jones known as ‘The Black Patti’); The                                                               Herndons (Alonzo Franklin Herndon, founding                                                                   president of Atlanta Life Insurance now Atlanta                                                                 Life Financial Group); LaRoche (based upon the only black passenger on the ill-fated Titanic); The Candlers of Callan (The Coca Cola family history); The Great Divide (The Lewis and Clark Expedition as seen through the eyes of ‘York’ the black slave that went with them); Pink Lady (based upon the lives of three women and their battle with breast cancer); Madam C, J, (Madam C. J. Walker, African American self-made millionaire); The Seduction of King Solomon  (based upon the Old Testament character – the wise king and his down fall due to idolatry and lust); 3kings and a PRINCE (light-hearted operetta about the three kings and their servants as they journey to the manger);  and Carmen J. (based upon Bizet’s Carmen and Carmen Jones but new setting and music).  The composer’s eleventh work: The Bridge is based upon homelessness under the Washington Street bridge in Atlanta and her twelfth operetta Sing Marian Sing inspired by the life of opera diva Marian Anderson, the first African American to sing a character role at the Metropolitan Opera House.  Dr. Willis also is writing a children’s opera Ananse the Spiderman  and a smaller work Three Dream Portraits. The Atlanta University Center wide Orchestra, Dr. Alfred Duckett, Former Conductor commissioned a memorial tribute to the late Dr. Darryl Mitchell in 2001. An encore performance of this orchestral tone poem was presented at Saint Philip A.M.E. Church February, 2002 at the 11^th Annual SEAAC Music Festival; her organ suite We Shall Overcome published by Vivace Press has been performed by concert organist and professor Calvert Johnson throughout the United States and recorded by concert organist Trey Clegg.  Mr. Clegg performed the piece in Germany at Martin Luther’s church last December; the composer was selected to present a commissioned work for The American Guild of Organist, Chicago Convention in 2006, the work The Agora Organ Suite is published by Wayne Leupold Editions along with her tribute work to Underground Railroad Conductor, Harriet Tubman – The Exodus Suite; her commissioned work by the DeKalb Choral Guild, Bryan Black, Director, was a choral work honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2004

Dr. Willis was included in the exhibit of Georgia Classical Composers at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, 2003 – 2006.  The composer is a member of The American Composers Forum; The American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers.  Willis is a graduate of Clark College now Clark Atlanta University; Associate Professor and Music Chair at Clark Atlanta University; Special Program Coordinator at Morris Brown College and Director of Music Ministry at Friendship Baptist Church of Atlanta.