Communities Will Thomas '08
During the summer of 2008, Will Thomas's composition “Aprill” was awarded second prize in the composition contest of The Choral Project, based in San Jose, California. They will be performing Will’s piece in June 2009, and have submitted “Aprill” to be published, an honor they usually reserve only for first place awardees.
“Aprill” is based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s prologue to Canterbury Tales, with a musical scale based loosely on liturgical music from the Republic of Georgia.
"As often with choral pieces I write, the inspiration was the text. I had heard this passage spoken before, and I had fallen in love with the sound of Chaucer's English," Will says. "I had also received a copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for my birthday once and I cracked it open at the end of March and decided to put that lovely English to music. Incidentally, I finished the bulk of the piece on April 1st."
Will was joined by Julie Powers-Boyle ('10), Will Timpson ('09), Lynn Mahoney ('09) and Tobey LaRoche ('10) for this performance of “Aprill” during Marlboro's 2008 Commencement cermony.
Read more about what Will is doing after graduation in the next issue of Potash Hill, due out in December of 2008.