William Thomas Appling (November 3, 1932 - August 29, 2008) was a renowned American conductor, pianist, educator and arranger. As a conductor he led the William Appling Singers & Orchestra for almost twenty-five years and conducted other choirs and musical organizations, premiering new works by many American composers. As a pianist he played under the batons of conductors including Robert Shaw, Louis Lane, and Darius Milhaud, and he was the first African American to record the complete piano music of Scott Joplin. As an educator he taught at American schools and universities including Vassar College, Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music and Western Reserve Academy. He made a number of recordings as both conductor and pianist, and his choral arrangements have been performed and recorded by such prominent ensembles as Chanticleer, Cantus and Dale Warland Singers.
Biography
Early life
Appling was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest in a family of four boys and three girls. Neither his father, Bradford Appling, nor his mother, Gertrude Wynn Appling, were musicians, though they encouraged him to pursue his talent. He attended Cleveland's John Adams High School and his formal education was completed upon graduating with both a BA and MA from Case Western Reserve University. His preparation included piano study with Elizabeth Lambright, Frances Bolton Kortheuer, Egbert Fischer, and Leonard Shure, and organ study with Edwin Arthur Kraft.
Career and influence
As conductor
During his years in the Cleveland area, Appling was Director of the Choral Club of Glenville High School from 1955 to 1965. Under his leadership the choir became well known throughout Ohio and beyond, accepting invitations to sing at the Hollywood Bowl, the 1964 New York World's Fair and at educators' meetings in Ohio and Indianapolis. In 1965, the Cleveland Board of Education presented the Choral Club in a sold-out concert at Severance Hall.
Appling also served as the Choral Director of the Case Men's Glee Club from 1964 to 1979, West Shore Chorale from 1970 to 1981, the University Circle Singers at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and was a guest conductor and prepared choruses for the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra from 1966 to 1968. He also served as guest director of choral conferences throughout Ohio and the United States.
In 1965, Appling received the first Kulas Foundation Fellowship Award for Choral Conducting with the Cleveland Orchestra, in which capacity he served as assistant to Robert Shaw, then conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.
In 1979, Appling founded the William Appling Singers & Orchestra (WASO), a professional ensemble performing primarily choral works of all periods and styles. The group's premiere performance was at the Cleveland Institute of Music on March 9, 1980, presenting an all-Mozart program. WASO premiered the works of many contemporary American composers, including those by Richard Hundley, Donald Erb, and Richard Edward Wilson. In Ohio, WASO appeared in concert at Severance Hall, Blossom Music Center, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and numerous church concerts. The group was noted for its performances of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor and during the holiday seasons their presentation of Handel's Messiah became a welcome tradition in the Cleveland area. Appling and WASO also collaborated on projects with the prominent musician, sociologist and musicologist Zelma Watson George in community outreach programs such as A Joyful Noise, which was presented at Cleveland's legendary Karamu House and Mount Zion Congregational Church.
Appling was music director and conductor of the premiere of Leslie Adams's opera, Blake, in a 70-minute concert version at the Cleveland Play House in June, 1985.
On February 22, 1990, Appling was guest artist for A Night to Remember, sponsored by the University of Akron in conjunction with the university's Black Cultural Center to recognize the contributions of Blacks to the arts. The program included excerpts from Porgy and Bess and a tribute to the late choreographer Alvin Ailey.