Managing Director – William Nicholson:

A versatile and experienced musician, Mr. Nicholson has served as conductor, composer, music director, performer, drama director and music educator for many years in the Metro-Boston area. Mr. Nicholson has directed instrumental and choirs ensembles for the Newton Public Schools, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional HS, Middlesex Summer Arts, and Dedham Public Schools. He has worked with a number of locally and nationally recognized performing ensembles, including the NEC Youth Chorale; Central Bucks High School-West Honor Choirs, the First U.S. Army Band, US Coast Guard Academy “Idlers,” Bridgewater State University’s Chamber Singers, Sara Blacker (NE 2013 Vocalist of the Year) and numerous other vocal and instrumental artists and organizations.

A commissioned composer, with over 300 compositions to his credit, Mr. Nicholson has written for a wide variety of music ensembles, including orchestra, choir, concert and marching band, big band, contemporary jazz, rock, and pop ensembles, chamber ensembles, musical theatre, electronic media plus solo instrument and voice. As composer, he brings experience of directing these various ensembles as well. Most recently, he organized and conducted the well received the LSCO pops concert celebrating Sudbury’s 375th anniversary.

Mr. Nicholson received a MA in Music Composition/Theory from the Crane School of Music, Potsdam, NY, while studying with popular American composers, Robert Washburn and Arthur Frackenpohl. Mr. Nicholson recently retired as music director and drama director for the Dedham Public Schools in Dedham, MA

Conductor – Alfonso Piacentini

Alfonso Piacentini, a charismatic, young conductor and percussionist, graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a Master of Music in Conducting.  He serves Benjamin Zander as an Assistant Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and its youth orchestra.
        As an adolescent in Puerto Rico, he attended a specialized music school as he prepared to enter the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music studying percussion.  During his junior and senior years, he discovered his love of conducting. Mentored by the Associate Conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony, Piacentini started taking conducting and theory classes, increasing his passion for conducting while building a strong relationship with his mentor. After a summer of meticulous preparation, he led the concert band and earned a conducting apprenticeship at the Conservatory.
        Upon completion of his studies in Puerto Rico, Piacentini moved to the United States.  His passion for conducting led him to enter the Boston Conservatory as a graduate conducting student studying under Maestro Bruce Hangen.  His skill and dedication to his craft at Boston Conservatory, helped secure Piacentini a position conducting with Benjamin Zander at the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and BP Youth Orchestras.
        In addition to the BPO orchestras, Piacentini has directed the Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, the AEON Ensemble in contemporary music in NYC as well as orchestras in his native Puerto Rico.