About Us
For writer Joseph Clark III, "The Winds…" project started in 1989 just after the death of his father and was worked on piece by piece. The idea of having a professional composer create a musical score based upon some feature of the town fascinated Clark and he started a long research on-line and in libraries about commissioning composers and musicians. At one time, he settled upon "Tell it to the Snow"… but could not write anything without laughing so hard the point was lost. Then he decided upon "The Bugs of Tolland" with the same result. It was not until he was listening to Ottorino Respighi's " The Pines of Rome" that it hit him: It would be about wind, the one constant feature of the town that is not funny at all and at once provoked instant recall of wind connected anecdotal stories about the town.
The vision of the Winds on Noyes Pond while fishing there and the winds upon his own boyhood home, in the freezing grip of winter came back to him and convinced him that this was the muse he was looking for. Now to convince a composer the stature of Andrew Bonacci it was a good idea…
Consider a gift to "The Winds of Tolland" – a gift you can see with working musicians
The Collaborators
Andrew Bonacci, Composer – Associate professor and chair of the Music Department at Westfield State College, Westfield , MA. Composer and creator of various choral and ensemble music; BM New York University at Fredonia; MM piano, MM composition, University of Louisville; DMA University of Kansas.
Alan Taylor, Conductor – Lecturer, organ, music theory, Westfield State College; founder conductor, various choral groups and societies in Western Massachusetts; BA Trinity College; MM Smith College.
Joseph Clark III, Producer/Writer – Author of various books, CDs, DVDs, about Tolland; towns forth oldest native; military historian; stroke survivor.
Ashley Clark, Artist/Curator – BFA The School of Visual Arts, NYC. MFA Graduate student MassArt.