George Walker was an American composer and pianist who lived from 1922 to 2018. He was a concert pianist first and a composer second, and he broke one barrier after another in both careers. In 1996, he became the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. The best first piece for a child is Lyric for Strings, six minutes of slow, calm music.
Quick facts
- Born: 1922, in Washington, D.C.
- Died: 2018, in Montclair, New Jersey
- Era: Modern
- Played: piano
- Known for: Lyric for Strings, and Lilacs, the piece that won the Pulitzer Prize
The life in short
Walker’s father came to the United States from Jamaica with almost no money and became a doctor. His mother loved music and found George a piano teacher when he was five.
His grandmother lived with the family. She had been enslaved as a girl and had escaped. George was close to her.
He finished high school at 14 and entered Oberlin, a college in Ohio. He graduated at 18 with the highest honors in his class.
He went on to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, one of the hardest music schools to enter. There he studied piano with the great pianist Rudolf Serkin.
In 1945, at 23, he gave his first recital in New York. Two weeks later, he played a piano concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the first Black instrumental soloist to appear with that orchestra.
The reviews were excellent. Even so, few concert managers would book a Black pianist. Walker toured Europe and kept playing, and he turned more and more to composing and teaching.
He earned a doctorate and studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, the teacher of many American composers. For more than 20 years, he taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In 1996, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave the first performance of Lilacs, his piece for a singer and orchestra. It won the Pulitzer Prize. He was 73.
He composed into his nineties.
What the music sounds like
Walker wrote two kinds of music. His early pieces, such as Lyric for Strings, are tender and songful.
His later music is tougher. It is compact, with sharp rhythms and chords that clash. It takes more than one hearing. He did not want to be known for one style, and he wrote in the way each piece demanded.
He wrote more than 90 works: sonatas for piano, concertos, pieces for orchestra, and songs.
Pieces to play first
Lyric for Strings. He wrote it at 24, in memory of his grandmother. The strings enter one group at a time. The music rises to a peak and sinks back to quiet.
Lilacs. A setting of a poem by Walt Whitman about the death of President Lincoln. A high voice floats over a shimmering orchestra. Try the first of its four parts.
Piano Sonata No. 1. For an older listener. The middle movement is a set of variations on a folk song.
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. A piece that trombone players admire. The slow middle movement is a good place to start.
Things to do together
Count the entries. Play the opening of Lyric for Strings. Each group of strings enters in turn. Count them as they join.
Find the peak. Listen for the loudest moment in the Lyric. Stand up when it arrives. Sit when the music calms.
Remember someone. Walker wrote the Lyric for his grandmother. Ask your child who they would write a piece for, and whether it would be fast or slow.
Two jobs. Walker was a pianist and a composer. Ask your child which they would rather be: the person who writes the music or the person who plays it.
Firsts
- 1945: The first Black instrumental soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra
- 1945: The first Black graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music
- 1956: The first Black student to earn a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music
- 1996: The first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music
Each first opened a door for the musicians who came after him.
Print and play
Fill in a composer study notebook page for George Walker. Read about more composers in Black composers for kids and American composers for kids. For the string instruments in his best-known piece, read string instruments for kids.
For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.
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This article is part of Classical composers for kids: a guide by era, from Vivaldi to Britten.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.