JAVS Summer 2021

Hailstork was born on April 17, 1941 in Rochester, New York but was raised in the state’s capital of Albany. Among his earliest and most influential musical experiences was at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany. 2 There he sang in the boys and men’s choir, learned how to read music, play the piano, and eventually the organ. 3 He began composing when he was in high school through the encouragement of his orchestra director. She told him, “If you write it, we’ll play it.” 4 This encouragement compelled him to write several pieces for his high school orchestra and his high school choir.

That fall, he went on to study at the Manhattan School of Music. He spent three years there, getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition. Following his time at the Manhattan School of Music and a two-year deployment in Germany, the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired Hailstork to pursue his doctorate. “I had no idea what I was going to do with my master’s degree in music composition. I saw in the obituary statements about Dr. King that they kept calling him Dr. King. I said, ‘wow, I’ve never thought about getting my doctorate before. What if I just go ahead and get a doctorate?’” 6 Hailstork completed his doctoral studies at Michigan State University in 1971.

Upon high school graduation, Hailstork attended Howard University, a historically Black college in

Figure 1. Adolphus Hailstork’s works featuring the viola

Following the completion of his degree, Hailstork taught at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, OH for six years before teaching theory and composition at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, VA. Today, Dr. Hailstork is the Professor of Music Composition and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.

Washington, D.C. Against the wishes of his mother who wanted him to major in music education for better job security, Hailstork enrolled in his first music theory course. He studied music theory at Howard since music composition was not offered at the time. His experience at Howard exposed Hailstork to the Black music traditions of the diaspora, as he had not been privy to these experiences before. 5 After graduating from Howard University in 1963, Hailstork spent a summer at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau where he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger. He recalls this being an amazing experience because she challenged him to think critically about everything he wrote and to listen carefully.

Background on Sanctum

Sanctum was written for violist Beverly Kane Baker, the former Principal Violist of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO). They met in Norfolk, VA in 1992 when the VSO performed Hailstork’s Piano Concerto, which they had commissioned. Beverly remembers the

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 37, 2021 Online Issue

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