William Byron Webster

William Byron Webster (born in 1942) is an opera composer, a scholar and a social activist. He is a founder of the group FreedomArts , and his Prelude to Intolerance: Meditations on the Life of Anne Frank and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights were among the events at the FreedomArts Education Association's commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, 11 June 1995. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has subsequently been performed both in Palo Alto and for FreedomArts' fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the founding of UNICEF at the Palo Alto Art Center, 6 December 1996. Webster's operas Cyrano de Bergerac and The Little Match Girl are the object of extreme appreciation by a small group of admirers.
Webster holds a B.A. in Music, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in German Language and Literature, all from Stanford University, and has taught at the University of Wyoming, Case Western Reserve University, and East Texas State University. He is currently an Administrative Associate at Stanford University.
The latter part of his life has been devoted to community service in East Palo Alto, campaigning to save affordable housing in that area. He is also an active member of the arts community.
Partial list of public works
* Music for the Bicentenary of George Washington (December 12, 1999, at Euroformat, Compiègne, France)
* The Little Match Girl (1974) (Compact Disk, 1980) (Arias sung by Sharon Davis; Ariosi sung by Julia Wade; Music Director and pianist: Steve Gungi. Dickinson-Brown Editions (Library of Congress recordation).
* Cyrano de Bergerac

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