As the winner of the Philadelphia Youth Auditions, he played the 3rd Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy conducting two weeks after his New York debut in November of 1945. With his "notable" debut, as it was described by the New York Times, he became the first black instrumentalist to perform in that hall. Walker was presented in a debut recital in Town Hall, New York, by Mr. He graduated from the Curtis Institute with Artist Diplomas in piano and composition in 1945, becoming the first black graduate of this renown music school. Graduating at 18 from Oberlin College with the highest honors in his Conservatory class, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music to study piano with Rudolf Serkin, chamber music with William Primrose and Gregor Piatigorsky, and composition with Rosario Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber. In 1939, he became the organist for the Graduate School of Theology of Oberlin College. He was admitted to Oberlin College as a scholarship student in 1937, where he studied piano with David Moyer and organ with Arthur Poister. Lillian Mitchell Allen, who had earned a doctorate in music education, became his second piano teacher.īefore graduating from Dunbar High School at age 14, George Walker was presented in his first public recital at age 14 at Howard University's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. George Walker's mother, Rosa King, supervised her son's first piano lessons that began when he was five years of age. His father emigrated to the United States, where he became a physician after graduating from Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia. Walker was born in Washington, D.C., of West Indian-American parentage. Walker was the father of two sons, violinist and composer Gregory T.S. Walker was married to pianist and scholar Helen Walker-Hill (– August 8, 2013) between 19. He received the Pulitzer for his work Lilacs in 1996. A middle section in E-flat major is a bit brighter, but the original key returns and the work ends in quiet dignity.George Theophilus Walker (J– August 23, 2018) was an American composer, pianist, and organist, who was the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. This motive weaves its way through the texture. Simple in structure, the music is built on a brief motive of five eighth notes followed by a longer note, all within a limited range. The piece is in the unusual and difficult key of F-sharp major – six sharps – which gives the work a dark warmth. Walker subsequently used the piece as the second movement, molto adagio, of his first string quartet, and in its original form it became known as an orchestral piece. Originally titled “Lament for Strings”, it was written in memory of his grandmother. Walker’s Lyric for Strings, written at the age of 19, was his first major composition. He has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra. In the 1950s he turned to teaching – at Dillard University, the New School, Smith College, the University of Colorado, the Peabody Institute, and finally at Rutgers as a full professor.Īs a composer, he has produced more than 90 works, including five sonatas for piano, a mass, cantata, many songs, choral works, organ pieces, sonatas for cello and piano, violin and piano and viola and piano, a brass quintet and a woodwind quintet. Walker first won attention as a pianist, soloing with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1941 making his recital debut in Town Hall, New York City, in 1945 and touring as a recitalist and orchestral soloist. After studying with Nadia Boulanger in France, he earned his doctorate from the Eastman School of Music in 1956. He was admitted to the Oberlin Conservatory at 14, and later to the Curtis Institute of Music to study piano with Rudolf Serkin, chamber music with William Primrose and Gregor Piatigorsky, and composition with Rosario Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber. Walker was first exposed to music at the age of five when he began to play the piano. He received the Pulitzer for his work Lilacs in 1996. George Walker is a prolific, highly honored African-American composer, the first person with that background to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |