GREGORY T.S. WALKER
Concert Works
Stylistic fusion, wide appeal, and originality
are ongoing trademarks of
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Charles Ives Fellowship winner
Gregory T.S. Walker.
Who?
Gregory T.S. Walker was born in Northampton, Massachusetts,
the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker.
After graduating from Indiana University, he performed solo synthesizer concerts
throughout California before obtaining a Masters degree in Computer Music
from the University of California at San Diego.
He premiered his Concerto No. 1 for Orchestra and Synthesizer
and earned a second Masters in Composition from Mills College
before completing a Doctorate in Musical Composition
at the University of Colorado.
While studying in Boulder, he acquired notoriety
by organizing a series of multimedia concerts
with titles such as Night of the Cosmic Guitar and xy techno theatre .
Eventually, Dr. Walker established himself as an associate professor
at the University of Colorado at Denver and concertmaster
of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1993, the Colorado Symphony commissioned Walker to compose
what was acclaimed to be the first rap symphony, Dream N. the Hood .
He received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship
in 2000.
In performances ranging from Filharmonia Sudecka's premiere
of the previously-censored XUCUOYKCUFA in Poland
to the Detroit Symphony's controversial reading of
micro*phone for Amplified Orchestra,
Walker has pushed the stylistic limits of the symphony orchestra.
How?
An oratorio based on Toscanini's last broadcast
in which musicians invade the audience from all sides.
A techno-dance oboe concerto with fingerings for a high C.
Dream N. the Hood, the first "rap symphony"
from a Black artist, one committed to making a positive statement.
" an American masterpiece"
- Minneapolis Pioneer Press
Why?
If you have to ask, you have to listen...
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Contact at Gregory.Walker@cudenver.edu...