William Appling Singers & Orchestra

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	William Appling Singers & Orchestra


	William Appling-Scott Joplin Project

Please visit our two new pages. The first is a section entitled
Remembering William Appling and includes memories and tributes to
Bill sent to us from students, friends and colleagues.

The second page is a very brief recording of Bill discussing some of his thoughts and feelings about spirituals, hymns and folk music in general. It was made by Bill McClelland in 1999 when he and Bill were working on a concert of hymns and spirituals. (A recording of that concert, “Shall We Gather,” was released in 2001.) McClelland had long tried to get Bill to write down some of his thoughts on the music. When this proved unsuccessful, he decided to do an “interview” with Bill over the phone. Here are excerpts:

			William Appling
	Scott Joplin

	William Appling spent the final decade of his life studying the music and life of composer Scott Joplin. His intention was to record and issue the definitive performance of the entire body of Joplin’s compositions: 51 works for piano, several songs and the opera Treemonisha. Bill worked tirelessly until his death and was able to record fully the first segment of his project, the entire works for piano. Seven of Bill’s Joplin recordings were released earlier this year as part of Albany Records’ critically acclaimed release: William Appling Plays Scott Joplin and J.S. Bach.

The board of William Appling Singers & Orchestra is committed to seeing that Bill’s recording of the complete Joplin piano works will be preserved and commercially released as a 3-4 CD boxed set. This is a major undertaking as the unedited recorded “takes” will require hundreds of hours of editing and mastering. (The recording was done in Bill’s home by his longtime friend George Faddoul, and George will edit and master the CD’s.)

The total cost of completing the William Appling-Scott Joplin Project is estimated to be $75,000 - $85,000.

This will be WASO’s final project. Please help us to realize Bill’s dream by donating now. We have now set up an account with PayPal which will allow you to donate quickly and easily online by credit card. (Please note: It is not necessary to have a PayPal account to donate through PayPal.) Simply click here on the “Donate” button and you will be taken to the page where you may make your tax-deductible donation. Thank you so much for your help in making this project a reality.

You may also mail your tax-deductible contribution to:

William Appling Singers & Orchestra
Box 3661
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

For more information, please call 201-854-7483 or
Email waso@muzen.com

Please click below on the “Fundraising Update” link to follow the progress toward our goal. Thank you so much for your support!

	A memorial tribute to William Appling by A. Grace Lee Mims on her program “The Black Arts” was aired on December 10th, 2008 on WCLV-FM. The tribute includes several rare recordings of Mr. Appling conducting the 1961-62 Glenville High School Choral Club along with other selections. Please click to hear the full program:

Homepage Remembering William Appling Biography of William Appling Fundraising Update for the William Appling-Scott Joplin Project William Appling Plays Scott Joplin and J.S. Bach Celebrating William Appling Celebrating William Appling Recording Recordings by WASO Brief timeline of WASO An Appreciation by Ian Frazier Matt Donovan’s Elegy to William Appling