Dolores White

1932 - 2023

About

Dolores White (1932-2023) was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Howard University for two years and transferred to Oberlin College Conservatory of Music where she received the Bachelor 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 & Kent State University with James Waters, composition professors. 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. Her composition for Soprano, Narrator and Orchestra, “Give Birth to the Dream” from Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning” was commissioned by the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra and performed on the Martin Luther King Concert at Cuyahoga Community College, Metro Campus, Cleveland Ohio where Dolores White was assistant professor of music for many years. The piece, “Give Birth to the Dream” was performed by the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra the following year on their Martin Luther King Concert. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony performed her piece “Crystal Gazing” with Edwin London, conductor, at Cleveland State University, Oberlin College Music Series and several area churches in Cleveland. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony has many Cds, “The New American Scene No. 2″ features the works of Five Outstanding African American Composers which includes Dolores White’s “Crystal Gazing”. She is a member of ASCAP and has received many ASCAP awards. Also, she is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, American Music Center, OMTA, The International Alliance of Women in Music, Cleveland Oberlin Alumni Club, Center for Black Research, Chicago Music Association and NANM (National Association of Negro Musicians). In November, 2008, she presented “Living Portraits” performance/recital of Contemporary Chamber Music of Dolores White & Hale Smith at Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois. In July, 2009, she was a presenter at the 90th Anniversary of NANM in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation/performance was on Twenty & Twenty-First Century Art Songs of Dolores White and Hale Smith (fourteen art songs). The presentation/performance was reviewed by the New Amsterdam Newspaper and was given an excellent review. Performers were: Kimberly Jones, soprano, Cornelius Johnson, tenor and Dianna White Gould, pianist.

Related Information

http://doloreswhitemusic.com/biography

Works by Dolores White