The 2020-21 academic year marks Williston Northampton School’s 180th year. To celebrate this achievement, WNS Choirs, with support of the Grum Project, commissioned local composer Geoff Hudson to set to music words culled from student texts to create a piece specifically for the school, “The Mountain and the Bell.”
The English Department collected student texts about seasons at Williston last year. Common themes included community, integrity, family, self-actualization, and love. A poem was created using students’ imagery, and Hudson composed an accompanying piece for chorus, piano, cello, and percussion that features the ringing of bells to acknowledge our campus’ traditions of tolling the Angelus and the Victory Bell.
WNS Choirs will present a world premiere of this piece in May 2021. (The performance may be virtual or live depending on our state, national, and school community guidelines.)
Geoff Hudson will be on campus on Tuesday, January 12, at 7 p.m. ET, when he will give a presentation on Zoom discussing his musical inspirations, career path, and working habits. He will share a few of his works, including a climate change oratorio, A Passion for the Planet, and give insight into how “The Mountain and the Bell” came to be.