Composer Ulysses S. Kay Among Artists in Residency at American Academy in Rome

[Ulysses Kay: Works for Chamber Orchestra; Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra; Kevin Scott, Conductor; Troy 961 (2007)]

NewMusicBox.org
Sounds Heard: Americans in Rome 

By Frank J. Oteri 

Published: May 11, 2009

“Each year since 1914, thirty emerging American artists and scholars are awarded a year-long residency at the American Academy in Rome. Since 1921 they've allowed composers in the door, and the roll call of composers who have created important works there is something of a who's who of American music: everyone from Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter, Lukas Foss, Howard Hanson, David Lang, Ulysses Kay, Barbara Kolb, David Rakowski, George Rochberg, Yehudi Wyner, Carolyn Yarnell, and—O.K., let's stop at 11; you get the idea.” [Full Post] 

Ulysses Simpson Kay, Jr. was an African American composer, conductor and professor who was born on January 7, 1917 in Tucson, Arizona. He died in Englewood, New Jersey on May 20, 1995. The first major release devoted exclusively to the works of Ulysses S. Kay, Jr. is Ulysses Kay: Works for Chamber Orchestra; Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra; Kevin Scott, Conductor; Troy 961 (2007). Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin has generously made his research entry on Kay available to AfriClassical.com, where his complete Works List for the composer can be found. [Full Biography]