Olly Wilson is the recipient of numerous awards for his creative work as a composer including awards from the Guggenheim, Koussevitzky, Rockefeller, Fromm and Lila Wallace Foundations; the National Endowment for the Arts and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and and the Creative Work Fund of San Francisco. His works have been commissioned and /or performed by the Boston, Chicago, New York Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Cleveland and San Francisco symphonies as well as many others in the United States and abroad. In 1995 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and served as Vice President for Music from 2003 to 2006. He has also published scholarly articles on African and African American music and conducted numerous concerts of contemporary music. After teaching at Florida A&M  University and the Oberlin Conservatory, he joined the the University of California, Berkeley faculty in 1970. At Berkeley he served as Assistant Chancellor for International Affairs from 1986 to 1990, Chair of the Department of Music from 1993 to 1997 and was holder of the Jerry and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers Distinguished Chair in Music from 1995-1998. He is currently Professor of Music Emeritus.