Will Lenton – Saxophone, woodwind and keyboards
Will is a musical director, composer, performer and teacher. He has created bespoke music and sound tracks for theatre companies such as Wired Aerial Theatreand Walk the Plank as well as dancers, filmmakers and installation artists. He has a developed a long relationship with outdoor arts company Pif-Paf, composing full length soundtracks for their genre defying shows ‘Trunk’, ‘The Distance Ladder’, ‘Something To Hold’ and ‘Plantery’
Will graduated from his primary degree at Durham University in Ecology and Anthropology in 2001 and then cycled 17,000 miles from Arctic Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, raising £12,000 pounds for Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Returning to the U.K., he moved to Manchester and retrained as a woodwind repairer with renowned craftsman John Clarke at The Woodwind Workshop.
Concurrently, he also gained an MA in Music Performance at Salford University, receiving tuition from eminent saxophonists Munch Manship and Nat Birchall.
During this time, he composed and arranged a considerable body of work that has since been performed at Manchester Jazz Festival by Hillary Step Quartet.
Will regularly teaches privately and in school settings and as a passionate and engaging workshop facilitator, he values the impact that shared music can have on communities. It is important to Will that all is work in seated in his local community first.
In 2014, Will was awarded a Finzi Fellowshipand conducted a research trip to New Orleans to explore Second Lining in it’s original cultural context.
Will is Company Director, Band Leader and Bass Saxophone Player with Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners who perform annually at Todmorden events as well as touring internationally.