Dolores White

From Wind Repertory Project
Dolores White

Biography

Dolores Rae White (1932, Chicago, Ill. – 24 March 2023, Cleveland, Ohio) was an American composer, educator and pianist.

Ms. White attended Howard University for two years and transferred to Oberlin College Conservatory of Music where she received the bachelor's degree in piano performance. She completed her M.M. in piano performance and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Postgraduate work was at Ohio State University with Thomas Wells, briefly and Kent State University with James Waters, composition professors.

Centered in American and European classical elements, she fashioned music that reached into the rich resources of American traditions and music that drew on ethnic and international materials. She started her compositional achievements after winning second prize in the Ithaca College High School Choral Competition, 1988. Later, she was commissioned by the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra to compose an orchestral piece for the celebration of the centennial of the Chicago World Fair Exposition in 1993. The concert occurred at the Cleveland Art Museum, 1993, titled Salute to the Arts.

She was one of the finalists in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s African American Composers Competition and Conference. Her piece Celebration was performed by the Detroit Symphony on a concert series program with Leslie Dunner, conductor. The piece was later performed by the Columbus Ohio Women Symphony, Victoria Bond, conductor and the Dallas, Texas Symphony, Leslie Dunner, conductor.


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