For advanced violists, Hailstork "reflects [upon] the contrast between the turbulence of the outside world and the search for serenity within the walls of the cathedral" in this multifaceted duo. Includes a brief period of improvisation in both parts.

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Adolphus Hailstork received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He completed earlier studies at the Manhattan School of Music under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and Howard University with Mark Fax.

Dr. Hailstork has created works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, and orchestra. Early compositions include Celebration, recorded by the Detroit Symphony in 1976; and two works for band (Out of the Depths, 1977, and American Guernica, 1983), both of which won national competitions. Consort Piece (1995), commissioned by the Norfolk Chamber Ensemble, was awarded first prize by the University of Delaware Festival of Contemporary Music.

Dr. Hailstork’s music has been performed by such prestigious ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, under the batons of leading conductors such as James DePreist, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel.

1999 saw the premieres of Symphony No. 2, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony, as well as his second opera, Joshua’s Boots, commissioned by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Kansas City Lyric Opera. Dr. Hailstork’s second and third symphonies are recorded by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, under David Lockington, on the Naxos label.

Recent commissions include Earthrise, a large-scale choral work premiered by James Conlon and the 2006 Cincinnati May Festival, Three Studies on Chant Melodies for the American Guild of Organists 2006 National Convention, and Whitman’s Journey, a cantata for chorus and orchestra premiered by the Master Chorale of Washington, DC (under Donald McCullough) at the Kennedy Center in April 2006. Rise for Freedom, an opera about the Underground Railroad, will be premiered in the fall of 2007 by the Cincinnati Opera Company. Other premieres slated for the spring of 2008 are Serenade for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by Michigan State University, and Set Me on a Rock, for chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the Houston Choral Society.

Dr. Hailstork, who has received honorary doctorates from Michigan State University and the College of William and Mary, resides in Virginia Beach, VA; he serves as Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.