(ASSOCIATED PRESS) – A 1996 photograph of George Walker
I truly hope folks read the article in Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine about composer George Walker. If not, Parlor piano inspired career is
available online and you can catch up on your reading. I’m highlighting
this not only because I find Walker’s life and accomplishments
inspirational, but because he grew up in our community.
His childhood home is located at 3222 Sherman Avenue, NW. Walker was born in 1922 and according to the Post article, considered this his home until his farther died in 1954.
His father emigrated to the United States, where he became a
physician after graduating from Temple University Medical School in
Philadelphia. George Walker’s mother, Rosa King, supervised her son’s
first piano lessons that began when he was five years of age. His first
teacher was Miss Mary L. Henry. Mrs. Lillian Mitchell Allen, who had
earned a doctorate in music education, became his second piano teacher.
There is a good overview of his career here.
George Walker grew up at 3222 Sherman Avenue, NW.
In 1997, mayor Marion Barry proclaimed June 14 George Walker Day in
the District of Columbia. The citation that accompanied that
proclamation summed up Walker’s accomplishments as follows:
“A native Washingtonian and a product of D.C. public schools, . . .
he was the first black graduate of the Curtis Institute, the first black
to earn a doctorate degree from the Eastman School of Music, the first
black pianist to play with the Philadelphia Orchestra and to obtain
major management under the aegis of National Concert Artists and
Columbia Artists Management; and in 1996, was the first black recipient
of the Pulitzer Prize in Music.”
Walker is certainly someone all Washingtonians should be familiar with and proud of.
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