Teryle and William Watson are our 2nd award recipients. Their decades of dedication to music and mentorship are remarkable examples of the legacy William Warfield has left us.
Teryle Thomas Watson was born in Brooklyn, New York and began her formal training at the Juilliard School of Music at age five in piano, voice and music theory. In 1967,Teryle adopted Rochester, New York as her new home upon her acceptance at the Eastman School of Music.
In January 1975 she began a thirty-one year career as a music teacher with the Rochester City School District serving the children and families of numerous elementary and high schools. During this period she was also conductor of the Inter-High School Choir for the RCSD and the Rochester Peace Child Chorus. For twelve years she taught young voices at the Rochester Association of the Performing Arts.
Liturgical music and Pastoral Ministry have remained a mainstay of her life. Teryle has held music ministry positions at several local churches. Her love of Musical Theatre has been witnessed in over fifty productions she has directed in this area. Two musicals, Big River and Ragtime, both School of the Arts productions won the Best Musical Award given by the Rochester Broadway Theatre League. Teryle is also the former conductor of and a singer with the Opera Theatre of Rochester; and has been active in the Gateways Music Festival as a cellist and chorus master/conductor for their performances.
At an age five William (Bill) Watson was awarded a scholarship to study the piano in the Preparatory Department of the Eastman School of Music, receiving a diploma in piano in 1959, the same year he graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School. In 1964 Bill began what became a fifty year commitment to church music ministry in the Rochester area at Trinity Presbyterian Church (which later became Trinity Emmanuel), Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Genesee Baptist Church, and the St. john Fisher College Gospel Choir.
Bill taught music to youth over 42 years: at the University of Rochester (1965-1974), Rochester City School District (1974-1977), SUNY at Brockport (1978-1979), and the City of Rochester (1980-2007); and was chairman of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity talent hunt for high school students for four years.