Composers

Adolphus Hailstork

1941 -

About

Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941) received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music, under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and at Howard University with Mark Fax. Dr. Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, and orchestra. Significant performances by major orchestras (Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York) have been conducted by leading conductors such as James de Priest, Paul Freeman, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maezel, Jo Ann Falletta and David Lockington. Recent commissions include Rise for Freedom, an opera about the Underground Railroad, premiered in the fall of 2007 by the Cincinnati Opera Company, Set me on a Rock (re: Hurricane Katrina), for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the Houston Choral Society (2008), and the choral ballet, The Gift of the Magi, for treble chorus and orchestra, (2009). In the fall of 2011,Zora, We’re Calling for You, a work for speaker and orchestra, was premiered by the Orlando Symphony. I Speak of Peace commissioned by the Bismarck Symphony (Beverly Everett, conductor) in honor of (and featuring the words of) President John F. Kennedy was premiered in November of 2013. Hailstork’s newest major works are Robeson, an operatic theater work (written for the Trilogy Opera Company of Newark, New Jersey), and Hercules(“the veriest dandy slave”) a concert overture for the Grand Rapids Symphony, which was premiered in October 2014. Current projects are Bound for the Promised Land for the Atlanta Festival (November 2016) and Ndemarafor the Myrelinques Festival of France (May 2017). Dr. Hailstork resides in Virginia Beach Virginia, and is Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

Related Information

http://artsongalliance.org/composers/adolphus-hailstork

Works by Adolphus Hailstork

Title Collection Voice Type Range Poet
SING HER A SONG Soprano D4-G5 Paul Laurence Dunbar
Slave Song Bass G2 - D4 Frederick Douglas
Song (For Sandra Fox) Voice B3 - F5 Emily Dickinson
Song (My Heart to Thy Heart) Four Love Songs Tenor F#3 - B4 Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song of Mary Two Biblical Songs Voice Eb4 - A5 Luke: 1:46 - 55
Song of Ruth Two Biblical Songs High Eb4 - C6 Ruth 1:16 - 17
Sun Ventriloquist Acts of God High B3 - C6 Ellen Wise
Sunset Sunset and Night High D4 - G5 Paul Laurence Dunbar
Tell Me Trees What Are You Whispering? High Eb4 - Bb5 Wilson Harris
The Awakening Five Dunbar Lyrics Voice D4 - G5 Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Daffodils Three Simple Songs High C4 - F5 William Wordsworth
The Gift to Sing Lollipops Soprano Eb4 - G5 Sara Teasdale
The Lord Giveth Wisdom High C4 - Ab5 Isaiah: 17:12, 18:4
The Sage Bass G2(opt. F2) - Db4 Benjamin E. Mayes
The True Story of Adam and Eve Ventriloquist Acts of God High C4 - A5 Ellen Wise
This is My Letter to the World Summer. Life. Song. High D4 - Gb5 Emily Dickinson
Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers Two Sonnets of E. B. Browning High E4 - A5 Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Tie the Strings to My Life Summer. Life. Song. High D#4 - B5 Emily Dickinson
Ventriloquist Acts of God Ventriloquist Acts of God High Bb3 - G5 Ellen Wise
Vocalise: in memory of Adele Andrews High D4-C6
Where Have You Gone..? I've Seen The Day Soprano C4 - A#5 Mari Evans
Who is Sylvia? Coloratura Soprano F4 - D6 | Optional F#6 William Shakespeare