Bill McGlaughlin

William "Bill" McGlaughlin was born on October 3, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — a city whose accent never quite left him, shaped as much by his South Philadelphia upbringing as by his Scottish-American grandfather, John Hogan, with whom he lived during his earliest and later teenage years. Music entered his life through his father's love of opera, and at fourteen, Bill stumbled into his first piano lesson when his younger brother quit a set of pre-paid classes. By the second lesson, something had clicked. "Well, that's it," he recalled thinking as he walked home. "I'll be a musician." He began practicing eight hours a day. That conviction carried him to Temple University, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1967 and a Master of Music in Conducting in 1969, studying under the renowned Robert Page and taking private instruction from William R. Smith and Max Rudolf. He began his orchestral life as Assistant Principal Trombonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, then as Co-Principal Trombonist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. All the while, he brought full scores to every rehearsal, studying conductors from the back of the stage. In 1973, after the great Georg Solti told him he'd need an orchestra to practice with, McGlaughlin founded three of them in Pittsburgh in a single year. His conducting career spanned three decades: the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and a transformative twelve-year tenure as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony. There, he expanded the repertoire, commissioned new works, and left the orchestra on stronger artistic and financial footing than he found it. In 1980, McGlaughlin became the host of "Saint Paul Sunday," which grew into America's most-listened-to weekly classical music program on public radio, airing on roughly 200 stations. In 1996, it received the George Foster Peabody Award. Then in 2003, he stepped into the national spotlight with "Exploring Music" on WFMT in Chicago — a daily program broadcast in 200 markets across the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. For twenty-two years, his warm, down-to-earth voice guided listeners of all backgrounds through some of music's greatest mysteries and glories. He received the AMPPR Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Late in life, he also found his voice as a composer, writing approximately twenty orchestral works beginning in 1997. He shared his New York City home with his longtime partner, jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson, and together they brought classical and jazz into joyful conversation. Bill McGlaughlin passed away on July 23, 2026, at the age of 82, leaving behind a legacy of musical generosity that touched millions of listeners worldwide.