02/01/2023
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
American composer William Grant Still was truly a man of many firsts. In 1931, Still's Symphony No.1, "Afro-American," was performed by the Rochester Philharmonic. It was the first symphony composed by an African-American to be performed by a well known orchestra in the United States. Still was the first African-American to conduct a prominent American orchestra when he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1936. In 1955, Still conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic, becoming the first African-American conductor of a major orchestra in the deep south. Still's opera, "A Bayou Legend," was the first opera written by an African-American composer to be broadcast on national television. It premiered on PBS in 1981, three years after Still's death. Hailed as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," William Grant Still was indeed a pioneering conductor and composer of nearly 200 works including symphonies, operas, works for solo instruments, ballets and art songs.
For more information about American composer William Grant Still, please visit:
encyclopediaofarkansas.org
blackpast.org
parkersymphony.org
