Everyone SANG
Everyone Sang
BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on - on - and out of sight.
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
Dr. William (Bill) Cutter is director of choral programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is conductor of the MIT Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus. A member of the conducting faculty at The Boston Conservatory, he is also the artistic director and founder of The Boston Conservatory Vocal Choral Intensive (VCI), a summer program designed for high school vocalists. As Director of Choral Studies at the Conservatory for 12 years, he conducted both The Boston Conservatory Chorale and Women's Chorus. He has also held academic posts at the Boston University School for the Arts, the University of Lowell and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He served as music director and conductor of the Brookline Chorus, an auditioned community chorus of 80 voices, for five seasons. Cutter also served as chorus master and associate conductor of the Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) Company from 2002-2007. For four summers, Cutter was conductor of the Boston University Young Artists Chorus of the Tanglewood Institute, and he was music director and conductor of the Opera Laboratory Theater Company, as well as founder and music director of the vocal chamber ensemble, CANTO, which specializes in contemporary choral music.
As assistant to John Oliver for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, he has prepared choruses for John Williams and Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. In August 2002, Cutter prepared the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for their performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington. In 2007, Cutter was guest conductor of the New England Conservatory (NEC) Chamber Singers and the Chorus Pro Musica in Boston. During the summer of 2009, Cutter was chorus master for Red Sox Album CD, recorded by the Boston Pops. He also prepared backup singers for a concert with James Taylor at Tanglewood in August 2009. In August 2010, Cutter was guest chorus master for the Montreal Symphony Chorus preparing Haydn’s Creation for Maestro Kent Nagano, and he was chorus master for the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for a performance of Holst’s The Planets at Tanglewood under the baton of David Zinman. In April of 2011, the MIT Chamber Chorus performed the Kronos String Quartet as well as the Bang on a Can All-Stars in a new version of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. Cutter is currently guest conductor of the Boston Choral Ensemble, preparing a program entitled Bang--Music for Percussion and Chorus, featuring works by Dominick Argento, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Klatzow and Timothy Takach.
Cutter previously served on the faculty of the North Carolina Summer Institute of Choral Art and is in demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout the US and Canada. In 2002, he was asked to serve as a choral consultant for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO’s) educational outreach program.
With degrees in composition, Cutter maintains an active career as a composer with recent performances by the Illinois State University School of Music Orchestra, Cantata Singers, PALS Children’s Chorus, Monmouth Civic Chorus, the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus, the Boston Pops, the New World Chorale in Boston, Melodious Accord of New York City and Opera Omaha.
His music has been published by E.C. Schirmer, Boston; Lawson and Gould, New York; Alfred Educational Publishers, Los Angeles; Roger Dean Publishers, Wisconsin; Shawnee Press, Pennsylvania; and Warner/Chappell of Ontario, Canada. His primary composition teachers included Pulitzer Prize-winning composers David del Tredici and Bernard Rands.
As a professional tenor, he has sung with premiere vocal ensembles in Boston, including the Handel and Haydn Society, Cantata Singers, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music and the Harvard Glee Club. Cutter has been a featured soloist on the Cantata Singers Recital Series and has been a recitalist on the MIT faculty performance series.
BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on - on - and out of sight.
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
Dr. William (Bill) Cutter is director of choral programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is conductor of the MIT Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus. A member of the conducting faculty at The Boston Conservatory, he is also the artistic director and founder of The Boston Conservatory Vocal Choral Intensive (VCI), a summer program designed for high school vocalists. As Director of Choral Studies at the Conservatory for 12 years, he conducted both The Boston Conservatory Chorale and Women's Chorus. He has also held academic posts at the Boston University School for the Arts, the University of Lowell and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He served as music director and conductor of the Brookline Chorus, an auditioned community chorus of 80 voices, for five seasons. Cutter also served as chorus master and associate conductor of the Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) Company from 2002-2007. For four summers, Cutter was conductor of the Boston University Young Artists Chorus of the Tanglewood Institute, and he was music director and conductor of the Opera Laboratory Theater Company, as well as founder and music director of the vocal chamber ensemble, CANTO, which specializes in contemporary choral music.
As assistant to John Oliver for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, he has prepared choruses for John Williams and Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. In August 2002, Cutter prepared the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for their performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington. In 2007, Cutter was guest conductor of the New England Conservatory (NEC) Chamber Singers and the Chorus Pro Musica in Boston. During the summer of 2009, Cutter was chorus master for Red Sox Album CD, recorded by the Boston Pops. He also prepared backup singers for a concert with James Taylor at Tanglewood in August 2009. In August 2010, Cutter was guest chorus master for the Montreal Symphony Chorus preparing Haydn’s Creation for Maestro Kent Nagano, and he was chorus master for the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for a performance of Holst’s The Planets at Tanglewood under the baton of David Zinman. In April of 2011, the MIT Chamber Chorus performed the Kronos String Quartet as well as the Bang on a Can All-Stars in a new version of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. Cutter is currently guest conductor of the Boston Choral Ensemble, preparing a program entitled Bang--Music for Percussion and Chorus, featuring works by Dominick Argento, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Klatzow and Timothy Takach.
Cutter previously served on the faculty of the North Carolina Summer Institute of Choral Art and is in demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout the US and Canada. In 2002, he was asked to serve as a choral consultant for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO’s) educational outreach program.
With degrees in composition, Cutter maintains an active career as a composer with recent performances by the Illinois State University School of Music Orchestra, Cantata Singers, PALS Children’s Chorus, Monmouth Civic Chorus, the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus, the Boston Pops, the New World Chorale in Boston, Melodious Accord of New York City and Opera Omaha.
His music has been published by E.C. Schirmer, Boston; Lawson and Gould, New York; Alfred Educational Publishers, Los Angeles; Roger Dean Publishers, Wisconsin; Shawnee Press, Pennsylvania; and Warner/Chappell of Ontario, Canada. His primary composition teachers included Pulitzer Prize-winning composers David del Tredici and Bernard Rands.
As a professional tenor, he has sung with premiere vocal ensembles in Boston, including the Handel and Haydn Society, Cantata Singers, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music and the Harvard Glee Club. Cutter has been a featured soloist on the Cantata Singers Recital Series and has been a recitalist on the MIT faculty performance series.