James Frazier (1940 – March 10, 1985) was an American orchestral conductor. Frazier was awarded the Cantelli Award in 1969. He went on to attain several prestigious engagements in Europe, the United States, and South America. He was one of the most successful

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

conductors in the 1970s.

Biography

He was born to a Detroit sanitation worker and at 5 was enrolled in the Detroit Conservatory of Music. By 16, Frazier was conducting from memory in churches, conducting works like Felix Mendelssohn's ''

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

'' and George Frideric Handel's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

''. He received a degree in chemistry from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. During his senior year in college he conducted ''Elijah'' with

William Warfield William Caesar Warfield (January 22, 1920 – August 25, 2002) was an American concert bass-baritone singer and actor, known for his appearances in stage productions, Hollywood films, and television programs. A prominent African American artist ...

as soloist, and was urged to consider a professional career. He attended National Music Camp in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, and eventually was chosen with other three conductors to conduct in public. He then went on to conduct at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with encouragement from

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

. He later obtained his master's degree in music from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. In 1969, he won the Cantelli Award in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. This led him to conduct in several prestigious orchestras, including the

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (russian: Симфонический оркестр Санкт-Петербургской филармонии, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a Russian orchestra based ...

and the

Belarusian State Philharmonic The Belarusian State Philharmonic is a musical institution based in Minsk, Belarus. History The Belarusian State Philharmonic was founded on 25 April 1937. It featured a symphony orchestra, a Belarusian folk instruments ensemble, a dance ense ...

. Frazier garnered acclaim from the orchestras of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

and

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. Frazier composed ''King Requiem'', a

Requiem mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

for

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, and conducted its premiere in Detroit on May 9, 1969, with Warfield as soloist. He also composed a musical, ''12th Street: A Soul Opera'', telling about life in his Detroit, and created the special "Soul and Symphony", which was broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, in the

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

Special Treat ''Special Treat'' (also known as ''NBC Special Treat'') is an American anthology series of television specials on NBC that were geared toward teenagers, similar to ''ABC Afterschool Special''. It debuted in 1975 and ran through the 1985–86 seas ...

''. In the 1970s, Frazier was teaching in public schools in Long Island City. By 1975 he had conducted, among others, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's New Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the

and the

. Later, he also conducted in South America. In 1981 he was named conductor of the Bogota Symphony. He died in 1985 at the age of 44, after a year of ill health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frazier, James 1940 births 1981 deaths 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American conductors (music) African-American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) Black conductors People from Detroit University of Michigan alumni