Monday, May 16, 2011

PRLog.org: 'Ankh Entertainment Signs William Grant Still Estate'

[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano; Koch 3 7084 2H1 (1991)]

Press Release
"May 16, 2011 – Ankh Entertainment is proud to represent the Estate of composer William Grant Still who is known as the 'Dean of African American Composers.' He is, as well, one of Americas foremost composers. Still was the first African American in the US to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra. He was the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, when in 1936, he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in his compositions at the Hollywood Bowl. He was the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the Deep south in 1955, when he directed, the New Orleans Philharmonic at Southern University, and to conduct a White radio orchestra in New York City. His opera, Troubled Island, was done at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York City, and is considered to be his most brilliant piece.

"After Still received public acclaim, he remained a pioneer, but in a larger sense, he was able to create music capable of interesting the greatest conductors of that time and now. Still wrote over 150 compositions (well over 200 if his early works could be counted), including operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber works, and arrangements of folk themes, especially Negro spirituals including instrumental, choral and solo vocal works. William Grant Still, a distinguished member of ASCAP, is mentioned in hundreds of books published in the United States and abroad, and is himself the subject of eleven volumes available from The Master-Player Library (a subsidiary of William Grant Still Music.) http://www.williamgrantstill.com." [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory
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