[Adolphus C. Hailstork]
The African American composer Adolphus C. Hailstork (b. 1941) is profiled at AfriClassical.com. On April 16, 2010 AfriClassical posted: “Composer Adolphus C. Hailstork, eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University, Was Born April 17, 1941; Has 27 CDs.” The post was a transcript of an interview with Prof. Hailstork, in which he spoke of his Music education in the Albany Public Schools: “This is one person whose whole life started with public school Music!” We have learned that he is in the Hall of Fame of the public schools of Albany, New York:
Albany High School Class of 1959
Composer, music professor
A state aptitude test Adolphus Hailstork took as a kid indicated that he’d be good in music. The test was right. Hailstork started on the violin in fourth grade, then switched to piano, organ and choir. At Albany High School he conducted a boys’ choral group and started composing. Then-orchestra teacher Gertrude Howarth told him the orchestra would play whatever he wrote. And 53 years later, he’s still composing.
"Hailstork went to Howard University after high school, where he studied with Mark Fax. Later, he completed studies at the Manhattan School of Music under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond and the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger. He received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed.
"Hailstork has written in a variety of genres, producing works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, and orchestra. His early compositions include Celebration, recorded by the Detroit Symphony in 1976; and two works for band (Out of the Depths, 1977, and American Guernica, 1983), both of which won national competitions. Consort Piece (1995), commissioned by the Norfolk Chamber Ensemble, was awarded first prize by the University of Delaware’s Festival of Contemporary Music.
"Hailstork’s works have been performed by such prestigious ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, under the batons of leading conductors such as James DePreist, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel.
"His recent commissions include Earthrise, a large-scale choral work premiered by James Conlon and the 2006 Cincinnati May Festival; Three Studies on Chant Melodies for the American Guild of Organists; 2006 National Convention; and Whitman’s Journey, a cantata for chorus and orchestra, premiered by the Master Chorale of Washington, D.C. (under Donald McCullough) at the Kennedy Center in April 2006.
"Other premieres included Rise for Freedom, an opera about the Underground Railroad by the Cincinnati Opera Company in fall 2007; Serenade for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by Michigan State University in spring 2008; and Set Me on a Rock, also for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the Houston Choral Society.
"Hailstork, who has received honorary doctorates from Michigan State University and the College of William and Mary, resides in Virginia Beach, Va. He serves as professor of music and eminent scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va."
Adolphus C. Hailstork IIIHall of Fame
City School District of Albany
Music Education
Public Schools
Albany Class of '59
Comment by email:
Congrats to Adolphus!! I'm preparing to give a premiere performance of a solo cello piece of his...more details later!! I'd love to have heard that performance of the Brahms Opus 36 that Kelly did at Holy Apostles as well!! Timothy W. Holley
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