Lilacs, for voice and orchestra, by George Walker

George Walker was born in Washington, D.C. in 1922. He began the study of piano at age five. He gave his first public recital at Howard University when he was fourteen and was admitted to Oberlin College. Upon graduating from Oberlin at age eighteen with a major in piano and a minor in organ, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music where he was a pupil of Rudolf Serkin and Rosario Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber and Gian-Carlo Menotti.

In 1945, he made his acclaimed New York recital debut in Town Hall which was followed two weeks later by a debut performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in the Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff. Under the aegis of National Concert Artists and Columbia Artists Management, he toured the United States and Europe. In 1956, he received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Eastman School of Music and returned to Europe on Fulbright and John Hay Whitney Fellowships to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger.

In 1961, he accepted academic appointments at Smith College and the University of Colorado. In 1969, he was appointed Professor of Music at Rutgers University where he became Chairman of the Music Department and a Distinguished Professor. He also taught at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and in 1975, he was appointed the first Distinguished Minority Chair at the University of Delaware. He retired from Rutgers University as Professor Emeritus in 1992.

George Walker has been the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and two Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships, several MacDowell Colony and Yaddo Fellowships, five National Endowment for the Arts Awards, research grants from Smith College, the University of Colorado and Rutgers University. He won the Harvey Gaul Prize in 1963. Other awards were received from the Curtis Institute of Music (New York Town Hall Recital), the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Lafayette College and Oberlin College (Honorary Doctorates), and the Koussevitsky Foundation.

He has published over seventy works that include two overtures, two Sinfonias, concertos for cello, violin, trombone, Variations for Orchestra, two string quartets, two sonatas for violin and piano, four piano sonatas, sonatas for cello and piano and viola and piano, a brass quintet, Perimeters for clarinet and piano, Five Fancies for clarinet and piano four hands, a Mass for four soloists, chorus and orchestra, a Cantata for Boys Choir and orchestra,numerous songs and choral works, organ pieces, works for chamber orchestra (Serenata and Orpheus), a piano trio and the Address for Orchestra.

His music has been recorded by CBS, Desto, Mercury, Orion, GM, C.R.I., Mastersound, Serenus, Da Camera Magna, BIS and Albany Records. He has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Cello Concerto), the Cleveland Orchestra (Dialogus for Cello and Orchestra),the Boston Symphony (Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra), the Boys Choir of Harlem (Cantata), the Philharmonia Virtuosi (Violin Concerto), the Cleveland Chamber Symphony (Orpheus), the Eastman School of Music (An Eastman Overture), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2), the Washington Performing Arts Society (Piano Sonata no. 3 ) and many other ensembles. His works have been performed by virtually every important orchestra in this country and in England.