Lilacs
(1996)- Music by George Walker
- Text by Walt Whitman
Lilacs is a work for soprano or tenor and orchestra, with words by Walt Whitman and music by George Walker. The piece won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996.
George Walker was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Mr. Walker says of the piece Lilacs:
"I was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to write a work for tenor and orchestra to commemorate the tribute that the Boston Symphony Orchestra was going to present in honor of Roland Hayes, the famous black tenor, whose career began in Boston with the Boston Symphony and who was a resident of Boston."
