William Henry Curry (born June 30, 1954) is an American conductor and composer. Since 2009 he has been the Music Director of Durham Symphony Orchestra.

Life and career

Willam Henry Curry was born in Pittsburgh on June 30, 1954. He started conducting and composing at the age of 14. After studying viola and conducting at

Oberlin Conservatory The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of t ...

from 1972 to 1974, he become assistant conductor of the

Richmond Symphony The Richmond Symphony is based in Richmond, Virginia and is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia and one of the nation's leading regional orchestras. The organization includes a full-time orchestra with more than 70 musicians ...

(1975–1977). Curry has conducted, inter alia, Indianapolis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, NC Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has won the Stokowski award for conductors. In 2019, he collaborated with Composer

Rajan Somasundaram Rajan Somasundaram, best known as Composer Rajan, is a composer, drummer, violinist and music producer based in Raleigh. He is known for making the first ever music album on Tamil Sangam period poetry in association with Durham Symphony and promi ...

for the classical Tamil poetry, Yathum Oore (Circa 200B.C.), the theme song of 10th

World Tamil Conference The World Tamil Conference ( ta, உலகத் தமிழ் மாநாடு) is a series of occasional conferences to discuss the social growth of the Tamil language. Each conference is attended by thousands of Tamil enthusiasts around t ...

.Yathum Oore Anthem
/ref> According to ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', Curry's compositions have been described as "melodic, neo-romantic, and populist", while " s composing influences include

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

Roy Harris Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3. Life Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898. His ancestry ...

, and

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, William American male conductors (music) Aspen Music Festival and School alumni Living people 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians 1954 births