MAT - Tour Leaders

Tour Leaders

William Thomas
A conductor, educator, administrator Mr. Thomas is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Pennsylvania State University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts since 1974 and served as Chairman of the Music Department for 15 years. He currently conducts the Academy Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and the Academy Cantata Choir. Mr. Thomas is the Music Director of the Andover and Cambridge Community Choruses. For over twenty five years he has organized and led annual concert tours through the United State, Europe and Asia. The programs for these tours have included much of the standard repertoire for chorus and orchestra. Additionally, he has researched and presented a number of new and unusual works including the North American premiere of Luis Bacalov's Misa Tango and performances of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast and Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia's Misa de Requiem.

Paul Raila
A businessman, media producer, engineer and musician, Mr Raila is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has applied diverse computer and electronic media technologies to contemporary life in business, education, creative, and performance environments. Mr. Raila has founded and run two development companies that have pioneered new media forms and applications on behalf of clients including 3M, Apple Computer, Fidelity Investments, Harvard University, the MIT Media Lab, and national museums. He has developed interactive multimedia projects for international audiences ranging from children to older adults. Mr. Raila's commitment to music began as a young violinist and grew to include choral, opera, and acappella performance. He is currently President of the Cambridge Community Chorus, a 140 voice ensemble in Cambridge Massachusetts that annually performs Handel's Messiah at MIT and other works throughout the community. Mr. Raila has helped Mr. Thomas lead groups on tour in North America, Europe and Asia.