Willard began cello lessons at the age of four with Elizabeth Anderson. He joined Wells Cathedral School as a chorister at the age of eight and moved to the Purcell School in 2013 to study cello with Alexander Boyarsky. In 2016, he joined the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music for additional chamber music studies. In 2018, he began studying with Ivan Monighetti at the Escuela de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, in 2023, he was a student at the Barenboim–Said Akademie with Frans Helmerson and from 2026 he is studying with Antje Weithaas in Berlin. In November 2025 Willard won the VP Opus Bank Award in Liechtenstein.

A 2026 CAG-YCAT Grand Prize winner and shared artist, Willard has played recitals at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Radio Classique Festival in Saint-Malo, Solsberg Festival and has performed on stages such as The Wigmore Hall, Buckingham Palace and Berlin Konzerthaus. Willard has performed and curated concerts at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and the Gstaad New Year Festival.