About George Walker (composer)
George Theophilus Walker was an American composer, pianist, and organist, and the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, which he received for his work Lilacs in 1996. Walker was married to pianist and scholar Helen Walker-Hill between 1960 and 1975. Walker was the father of two sons, violinist and composer Gregory T.S. Walker and playwright Ian Walker. Walker was first exposed to music at the age of five when he began to play the piano. Walker's first major orchestral work was the Address for Orchestra. In 1996, Walker became the first black composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work, Lilacs for voice and orchestra, premiered by the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting. In 1997, Walker was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt.
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