[3] In 1964, Willey went to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller.

Many of his compositions have been premiered or performed in prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, Steinway Hall, the Smithsonian Opera House and the Seattle Opera House.

His works have been programmed by several conductors of international reputation, including David Zinman, former conductor of the Rotterdam, Baltimore and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras, and Mark Elder, music director of the Halle Orchestra and former director of the English National Opera.

Willey's works have been performed by a wide range of ensembles, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the RPO, the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Esterhazy Quartet (String Quartets Nos.

[5] He has won three National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowships, held residencies at the Yaddo artists' colony in Saratoga Springs, New York, a fellowship at the Composers' Conference in Johnson, Vermont, and was a semi-finalist for the 1991 Kennedy Center/Friedheim Awards.