American Virtuoso

George Walker began his concert career as a pianist with a "notable debut" recital in Town Hall, New York, in 1945 - a recital sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Efrem Zimbalist. Two weeks later, he performed the Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting. He was immediately hailed as one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation. In 1950, he became the first black instrumentalist to be signed by a major concert management, National Concert Artists. In 1953, he made an unprecedented tour of seven European countries - Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and England with phenomenal success. Today, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. And by the way, as a composer, in 1996, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, which was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa conducting.