Wilson Gault Somers is a jazz and vocal music instructor, composer and performer in the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

. Somers is perhaps best known for his soundtrack for ''Edward Loper: Prophet of Color'', a documentary about the artist

Edward L. Loper, Sr. Edward Leroy Loper Sr. (April 7, 1916 – October 11, 2011)Karen Smyles, producer, ', WHYY-TV, January 2012. was an African American artist and teacher from Delaware, best known for his vibrant palette and juxtaposition of colors. He taught paint ...

which won a regional

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

award in 2000 in the Mid-Atlantic chapter.

Career

Somers has been an instructor at the Tatnall School for several years, mainly instructing vocal music, and has led a group which performed for Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. He has also created several original orchestral works- Somers' first large-scale composition, entitled MASS FOR THE HOMELESS, premiered to a sold-out audience at the Grand Opera House in 1977. The concert raised funds for homeless agencies in Northern Delaware, as did an encore performance of the same composition in 1999. His most recent large-scale creation, titled "Requiem for 9/11", is intended to remember the first responders of 9/11. "Requiem" premiered in 2012, and the performance raised several thousand dollars for the

Flight 93 National Memorial The Flight 93 National Memorial is a memorial built to commemorate the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was one of four aircraft hijacked during the September 11 attacks in 2001. The memorial is located in Stonycreek Township in Somer ...

in Shanksville, PA.’ Additionally, he is the choir director and organist for an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

church in

Kennett Square Kennett Square is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World because mushroom farming in the region produces over 500 million pounds of mushrooms a year, totaling half of the United ...

, Pennsylvania.

Personal life

Wilson is married to Joan Somers, with whom he collaborated for his composition "Requiem for 9/11." They are also the parents of Tyler Somers, a member of the musical duo

Jenny & Tyler Jenny & Tyler are a husband-wife folk-pop band originally from Newark, Delaware, and currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. The group consists of singer-songwriters Jenny Somers and Tyler Somers. Their style is a fusion of folk, pop, funk, ...

;

References

External links

* * http://911families.org/event/check-presentation-to-flight-93-memorial/ * http://www.teleduction.com/order/teleduction-edward-loper-prophet-of-color.html * http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=3160#.Ue3poW1aTpY American male composers 21st-century American composers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American male musicians Regional Emmy Award winners {{composer-stub