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Start…
Winter of 1937-38
Memphis, Tennessee, a river town and my birthplace, is nestled on a small bluff above the Mississippi River and geographically wedged between the states of Mississippi and Arkansas. Memphis in 1938, at the time of my birth, was worlds away from my future. Composing classical music is not the most likely career that one would expect to come out of the Deep South. Such a career choice is unimaginable when you consider that I grew up during an era blighted with despair in the midst of segregation. Yet, it happened to me.
1950s
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1968
1972
1988
1997
2002
After another success in New York, I set my sights on a new dream. I wanted to have my music performed in Europe. There was no single event that I could point to which sparked this idea, but something inside me was definitely propelling me toward this new goal. However, I did not have any viable contacts in Europe nor did I have any idea of how to proceed toward this dream. But the lack of details did not bother me. I was trusting God for the unbelievable, yet again.