Arcana New Music Ensemble, Presented by Bowerbird: Works by George Walker

Alize performs selections from George Walker's Song Cycles, Emily Dickinson Songs, and Three Songs, with Pianist David Hughes. Arcana is excited to perform works by George Walker along with Daedalus Quartet, Dynasty Battles, and David Hughes (also in Arcana). This concert is presented by Bowerbird.

As an aspiring pianist in his early teens, George Walker (1922-2018) gave his first public recital at Howard University’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel before studying performance and composition at Oberlin College and the Eastman School of Music.   Walker graduated from Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute with Artist Diplomas in piano and composition in 1945, as one of the first Black graduates of the music school.  Walker was a trailblazer within the landscape of twentieth and twenty-first century American music. He was the first African-American performer to appear in performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the first African-American musician to receive a doctoral degree from Eastman. Walker’s many firsts are perhaps best captured by his singular achievement in 1996: the Pulitzer Prize for Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra. Despite Walker’s many achievements, much of his chamber music is not widely known.