George Theophilus Walker (born June 27, 1922) is an
African-American composer, the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He
received the Pulitzer for his work Lilacs in 1996.
Walker was first exposed to music at the age of five when he began
to play the piano. 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 GregorPiatigorsky, and composition with Rosario
Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber. He received his doctorate from the Eastman
School of Music. Walker is the father of two sons, violinist and composer
Gregory Walker, and playwright Ian Walker. He resides in Montclair, NJ. In
1997, Walker was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by North Carolina
Governor Jim Hunt.
No comments:
Post a Comment