Hale Smith

about

Hale Smith (June 29, 1925 – November 24, 2009) was an American composer, pianist, educator, arranger, and editor.[1] He was one of the most notable African American composers of the 20th century. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Smith studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, graduating with a B.M. degree in 1950, and obtaining an M.M. in 1952. There, his instructors included Marcel Dick (composition), Ward Lewis (theory), Dorothy Price (piano), and Robert U. Nelson (calligraphy). In 1953 his opera Blood Wedding premiered in Cleveland. He moved to New York in 1958 and taught at C. W. Post College on Long Island, New York until 1970. He later taught at the University of Connecticut. His awards include the first composition prize of BMI Student Composer Awards sponsored by Broadcast Music, Inc. (1952), the Cleveland Arts Prize (1973), and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1988). He received an honorary doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1988. Smith died on November 24, 2009, from the complications of a stroke, in Freeport, Long Island, New York, at age 84.[2] "Hale Smith Day" was declared for February 21, 2010 by the Honorable Andrew Hardwick, Mayor of the Village of Freeport at a concert given in Smith's honor at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The congregation, located in Freeport, has a Hale Smith Day concert each February in conjunction with the Long Island Composers' Alliance. User-contributed text is available

top songs

albums

Music of Hale Smith

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DREAMER: A PORTRAIT OF LANGSTON HUGHES

African Heritage Symphonic Series, Vol. 2

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Lil Lite O Mine: Flute Music By Composers of African Descent

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Witness

Piano Music by African-American Composers

Kete - Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora

I, too

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Natalie Hinderas Plays Music by Black Composers

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How Sweet the Sound

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Got the Saint Louis Blues

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Winds Of Change: American Music For Wind Ensemble From The 1950s To The 1970s

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