SoNA
Symphony of Northwest Arkansas
American Voices: Rhapsody in Blue April 19, 2025 Walton Arts Center Paul Haas, conductor
Afro-American Symphony (Symphony No. 1) (1930)
He played the oboe in theater
William Grant Still
Tucker, Artie Shaw, and Paul
b May 11, 1895 in Woodville,
Whiteman. He arranged music for
Mississippi*
NBC radio shows. He wrote nine
d December 3, 1978 in Los Angeles,
operas. He arranged music for film
California
composers, including Dimitri Tiomkin
*Following his father’s death in 1895, Still (an infant) and his mother moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was raised.
for Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon. He
orchestras for Eubie Blake, Sophie
was on the musical staff for the TV show Perry Mason. And he wrote prolifically for the concert hall—so
William Grant Still’s long career
much so, in fact, that much of his
saw him active in an almost
output awaits broader discovery.
overwhelming variety of musical activities. He was first black person
Still was also the composer of the
to conduct a major orchestra.
first symphony by a black composer