William Fred Scott, conductor |
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Over the past three decades
the career of William Fred Scott has become as known for its vitality and variety as for his own personal commitment to the arts and the community. In the fall of 2005 a new chapter began to be written in his professional life. Having served for twenty years as Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera and for even longer as a member of the conducting staff of The Atlanta Symphony, Scott accepted an invitation to become Artist-in-Residence and Founding Director of the International Opera Center at Brenau University. Scott came to The Atlanta Opera Mr. Scott received high honors from the Atlanta community. The Arts and Business Council, part of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, named The Atlanta Opera as “Arts Organization of the Year” in 1999 and in 1998 named him “Artist of the Year,” through its annual Abby Awards, which recognize excellence and innovation in art in Atlanta. Public Broadcasting Atlanta selected Mr. Scott as a “Lexus Leader of the Arts,” Atlanta CityMag honored him in its Hall of Fame Issue and Creative Loafing magazine bestowed on him its annual “CL Award,” recognizing an individual who has made significant contributions to Atlanta’s culture. Mr. Scott also served as Honorary Chairman for First Night Atlanta 1999.
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After he was graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Maestro Scott moved to Boston to become associate conductor and artistic administrator of the Opera Company of Boston, where he also served as principal coach and chorus master. He remained with the company from 1975 to 1981 and made his unofficial conducting debut at age 22 when he stepped in on short notice for Artistic Director Sarah Caldwell to conduct Beverly Sills and Tatiana Troyanos in The Capulets and the Montagues. (This performance has been issued on CD by VAI Audio.) The Atlanta Opera’s 1999 performances of this opera with Brenda Harris and Delores Ziegler assuming the principal roles, marked the 25 th anniversary of Scott’s conducting debut. He made his official debut in March, 1977, when he conducted the company’s subscription performances of Puccini’s La bohème. While with the Opera Company of Boston, Mr. Scott led almost 200 performances in the city and throughout the Northeast as principal conductor of Opera New England, the company’s touring arm. He has collaborated with some of the world’s most eminent operatic singers, from Kiri te Kanawa, Shirley Verrett, Magda Olivero, Gwyneth Jones and Helen Donath to Donald Gramm, James McCracken and Jon Vickers. During his tenure in Boston, Mr. Scott was invited by Robert Shaw to serve as associate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. From 1981 to 1988 he conducted in Symphony Hall, on tour, and for the Symphony’s Summer Pops series at Chastain Park. In 1990, Maestro Scott conducted the American premiere of Philip Glass’s Canyon with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He also created their popular “Champagne and Coffee” concert series, which ran from 1985 through 1988. In December, 1999 Scott conducted the inaugural season of “Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,” a holiday concert event which he inherited on the death of his mentor and colleague Robert Shaw. Over the years Mr. Scott has added several works from the Shaw legacy to his orchestral and conducting repertoire, including the Requiem settings of Mozart, Duruflé and Fauré, the Brahms German Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. A frequently sought speaker and authority on opera and vocal performance, Mr. Scott is a frequent lecturer for the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta History Center, Emory University’s Carlos Museum and Baltimore’s Walters Art Gallery. He has been a member of the faculty of Georgia State University and the summer music institute at The University of the South. On several occasions, Scott has also presided over theatrical productions as stage director; these include Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta (Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera) and the State University of West Georgia (Shakespeare’s Macbeth) and productions of The Atlanta Opera Studio. He is a member of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, and divides his time between his home outside Atlanta and a cottage on the seashore in Maine. |
Maestro Scott has made guest appearances with opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the country including: New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Opera Company of Boston, Opera Carolina, Sarasota Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Greenville Symphony Orchestra and Boston’s Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. He has also conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for their weekly Sunday morning radio and television broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word.” In addition to a long list of credits in the traditional repertoire, Mr. Scott has conducted a number of rarely seen operas. Among these are Blitzstein’s Regina, Offenbach’s Voyage to the Moon, Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Schuller’s The Fisherman and his Wife, Paulus’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Marschner’s The Vampire. A regular guest of the Hawaii Opera Theatre, he returned most recently in the winter of 2005 to lead a series of performances of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. His European debut was made in December, 1999 at the Theatre of the Estates, Prague, conducting Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.