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NANM
SALUTES GEORGE THEOPHILUS WALKER DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COMPOSER
AND PIANIST
The extraordinary career of Dr. George Walker (b. 1922) has been
filled with many “firsts.” After graduating from Oberlin
Conservatory at age 18 with highest honors, he matriculated at
Curtis Institute, studying piano with Rudolph Serkin, chamber
music with William Primrose and Gregor Piatigorsky, and
composition with Rosario Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber. In
1945, he became the first African American to graduate from
Curtis, receiving Artist Diplomas in piano and composition.
Mr. Walker was presented in a Town Hall debut recital, becoming
the first African American instrumentalist to perform there. He
won the Philadelphia Youth Auditions, and played Rachmaninoff’’s
Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Eugene
Ormandy, becoming the first black to perform with that orchestra.
The second movement of his Lyric for Strings has become the
most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American
composer. Mr. Walker became the first artist of color to be
signed by a major management firm, the National Concert Artists.
In 1956, Mr. Walker completed doctoral studies at the Eastman
School of Music, becoming the first black graduate of that
institution. He was also the first recipient of color of the John
Hay Whitney Fellowship in 1957, when he also received a Fulbright
Fellowship. He spent two years in Paris, studying composition
with Nadia Boulanger.
Dr. Walker is the first African American to receive the Pulitzer
Price in Music, for his work, Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra,
premiered by the Boston Symphony, with Seiji Ozawa, conducting.
He has recently completed his autobiography, Reminiscences of
an American Composer and Pianist (The Scarecrow Press, 2009,
ISBN: 0810869403). This book should be part of the library of
any serious musician. Dr. Walker shares remembrances of his
remarkable life and career. Reminiscences may be purchased
online from
http://www.scarecrowpress.com or from
http://amazon.com.
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