1972 pulitzer prize winners biography of george
1972 pulitzer prize winners biography of george
1993 grammy winners...
Remembering George Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music
27 June 2022, 20:28
On what would have been his 100th birthday we celebrating the trailblazing American composer George Walker and his miraculous story of “firsts”.
George Walker (1922-2018) was one of America’s great composers, born 100 years ago today (27 June).
A trained pianist and organist, he wrote nearly 100 compositions, from symphonies and concertos to delicate song cycles and solo piano works.
In 1996, Walker broke an extraordinary colour barrier.
With his work for voice and orchestra Lilacs, a setting of Walt Whitman poetry premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
George Walker lived a life of “firsts”.
On top of his 1996 accolade, he was one of the first Black graduates of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 1945, the first Black musician to play New York’s Town Hall in 1945, the first Black r