George Walker

Dates:

1922-2018

Themes:

George Walker was a pioneering African American composer and pianist whose work spanned decades, incorporating a rich blend of neoclassicism, modernism, and lyrical expression. His Pulitzer Prize marked a milestone for Black composers in the U.S. He was the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (Lilacs, 1996).

Notable Works:

Lyric for Strings (1946)
Lilacs (1996)
Piano Sonata No. 2 (1956)

About:

George Walker was a trailblazing American composer, pianist, and educator whose career broke racial barriers and left an indelible mark on 20th-century classical music. Born in Washington, D.C., Walker showed prodigious talent from a young age, entering Oberlin Conservatory at 14 and graduating at the top of his class. He went on to earn degrees from the Curtis Institute—where he studied piano with Rudolf Serkin and composition with Rosario Scalero—and later became the first African American to receive a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music. In 1996, he became the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, awarded for his work Lilacs, a setting of Walt Whitman’s poetry for voice and orchestra.

Walker’s music is marked by its formal elegance, emotional depth, and stylistic range. Deeply rooted in the traditions of European classical music, his work also integrates African American spirituals, jazz harmonies, and modernist techniques. His early orchestral piece Lyric for Strings (1946), composed in memory of his grandmother, remains one of his most frequently performed and beloved works. Later compositions, such as Address for Orchestra, Sinfonia No. 3, and Sinfonia No. 5 (“Visions”), reveal his increasing engagement with dissonance, structural complexity, and sociopolitical themes. Though Walker often resisted being labeled solely as a “Black composer,” his work consistently reflected a deep awareness of racial and historical identity.

In addition to his compositional achievements, Walker had a distinguished career as a concert pianist and teacher, holding faculty positions at Rutgers University, Smith College, and the Peabody Institute. He mentored generations of musicians while continuing to compose into his 90s. Walker’s life was one of firsts and of quiet defiance against systemic exclusion—yet he remained devoted to the highest standards of musical craft and expression. His legacy is that of a composer who demanded recognition not only for himself but for the profound contributions of African Americans to classical music.