Gianandrea Noseda on George Walker's Craftsmanship

In January of 2022, the National Symphony Orchestra and Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda, started performing and recording the complete sinfonias of composer George Walker (1922-2018).

The recording project celebrates George Walker—the first African American composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize and a D.C. native—and honors his centennial, which was in 2022. Paying tribute to Walker’s legacy is particularly special for the National Symphony Orchestra given the mutual connection to their home city, and a unique history of collaboration and commissions.

On September 8, 2023, the recording cycle concludes with an album featuring all five of George Walker’s sinfonias, presented alongside comprehensive sleeve notes by Peter Laki, and beautiful photography captured by Frank Schramm during the last 14 years of the composer’s life. The album is an essential recording within the composer’s discography, and gives listeners an opportunity to experience Walker’s compositional evolution in context through five of his major orchestral works.

The album was recorded live in January 2022, and May and June of 2023 in the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.