William Blank, composer and conductor, was born in Montreux in 1957. In 1978, his Hesse Lieder for soprano and ensemble were premiered at the inauguration of the Ernest Ansermet Studio of Radio Suisse Romande. In 1985, Canti d’Ungaretti for contralto and ensemble were selected by UNESCO's International Rostrum of Young Composers. In 2001, he received the BCV Prize for his entire work, and in 2004, his world premiere performance of Exodes for large orchestra was held in New York on the occasion of the first anniversary of Switzerland's entry into the UN. In 2005, he was awarded a Leenaards Foundation Prize. From 2001 to 2022, he taught composition, analysis, and chamber music at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne and was the musical and artistic director of the Lemanic Modern Ensemble.

His works have been performed in Geneva (Victoria Hall) Lucerne (KKL), Zurich (Tonhalle) Basel (Stadtcasino) Paris (Philharmonie) Antwerp (Zaal Koningin Elisabeth) London (Wigmore Hall) Oxford (Jacqueline du Pré Music Building) Leipzig (Gewandhaus) Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie) Vienna (Musikverein) Salzburg (Festpielhaus) St. Petersburg (Philharmonie and Mariinsky Concert Hall) Shanghai (Philharmonie) and Tokyo (Suntory Hall). Conductors such as Kasuyoshi Akiyama, Jean Deroyer, Heinz Holliger, Armin Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano, Zsolt Nagy, Jonathan Nott, Pascal Rophé, Dennis Russell Davies, Pinchas Steinberg, and Antony Wit have conducted his works.

As a conductor and composer, he collaborates in a privileged manner with numerous performers such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (which has commissioned four works from him), the Kammerorchester Basel, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Contrechamps, the Collegium Novum Zürich, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the Biel Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Six monographic CDs have been dedicated to him, including the complete orchestral works by the OSR and the string quartets by the Quatuor Sine Nomine, recordings magnificently received by critics.