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William Thomas served as Project STEP’s Artistic Director in 2005. A conductor, cellist, educator, and administrator Mr. Thomas was a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His graduate degree was from Pennsylvania State University where he held a teaching fellowship. He was a member of the music faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts from 1974 until 2007 and served as Chair of the Music Department for 15 years. He held theFrederick W. Beinecke Teaching Chairand conducted the Phillips Academy Symphony,Chamber Orchestra, and the Academy Cantata Choir. Mr. Thomas served as Music Director of the Cambridge Community Chorus, an ensemble of over one hundred voices representing the rich diversity ofthe City of Cambridge. He did extensive research on the music of the African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, leading to American premiers of the composer’s opera Dream Lovers, a Piano Quintet, and Nonet. Performances of these and other chamber works have been supported by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the New England Conservatory of Music, the African Meeting House, and WGBH-FM. Mr. Thomas was a founding member of the Coleridge Ensemble, an ensemble dedicated to the research, performance, and recording of compositions by Black and African American composers.
