Returning Filene Artist Tiffany Townsend performs George T. Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Lilacs. Walker, a DC native, composed Lilacs utilizing stanzas from Walt Whitman’s poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” which reflects on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Walker became the first African American composer to earn the Pulitzer Prize for Music when Lilacs unanimously won the prize in 1996.
The National Orchestral Institute + Festival brings together aspiring orchestral musicians from across the country for a month of dynamic music-making and professional exploration. Chosen by a rigorous, cross-country audition process, these young artists present passionate and awe-inspiring performances of adventuresome repertoire at The Clarice and in the community.