Will Todd

Will Todd was born in Durham in 1970. He received an Honours degree in Music from the University of Bristol in 1991 and an MMUS in 1993. Will met Ben Dunwell, librettist, at Bristol University and began their collaboration at that time. Their first Genesis Commission was to write a special piece of music, Among Angels.

Will Todd was born in Durham in 1970. He received an Honours degree in Music from the University of Bristol in 1991 and an MMUS in 1993. Will met Ben Dunwell, librettist, at Bristol University and began their collaboration at that time. Their first Genesis Commission was to write a special piece of music, Among Angels.

This piece was premiered in front of an invited audience in St Wolfgang, Austria, on Sunday, 19 March 2006 and performed by The Sixteen under their founder and conductor, Harry Christophers at the 50th birthday celebrations of Genesis Chairman and Founder, John Studzinski. The choir sang in front of Pacher's famous St Wolfgang Altar Piece which was opened for the audience to display its sixteen angels. The piece was performed again in London by The Sixteen in June 2006 by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers at the St Yeghiche Church.

More recently, Genesis commissioned Will Todd and Ben Dunwell to be part of the Padre Pio Project and to be one of the composers setting the Saint Pio Prayer, Stay with me Lord, premiered by The Sixteen at Westminster Cathedral on 3 June 2008. This piece, along with settings by James MacMillan and Roxanna Panufnik were recorded and released on a disc entitled, Padre Pio Prayer.

In December 2009, Will Todd's 2001 music theatre work The Screams of Kitty Genovese came to The Sage Gateshead in a workshop performance by students from Sunderland University.  This seminal work explores the 1964 story of New Yorker Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death outside her home while 38 neighbours watched from their windows.  Developed by Will Todd and librettist David Simpatico at Opera Lab, the Eugene O'Neill National Music Theatre Conferences and ENO Works between 1998 and 2001, The Screams of Kitty Genovese has enjoyed notable success in the USA.