Maestro William Henry Curry G ETTI N G
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“I
Music Director, Durham Symphony Orchestra; Resident Conductor, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra; William Peace University professor
was raised in Pittsburgh, but happily, I never really grew up. I listened to everything that was good: classical, jazz, Motown, Broadway, Hollywood, etc. My hero was the greatest all-around musician America has produced: Leonard Bernstein. He loved all types of music. He composed, conducted, played piano, taught and wrote about music, all at the highest level. His love for classical music was the center of his life and his enthusiasm for this art inspired millions of Americans through his televised ‘Young People’s Concerts.’ It was inevitable that I would try to emulate him in the most important part of his legacy: composition. I came to North Carolina by way of New Orleans, where I served as resident conductor of the New Orleans Symphony. I was deeply impressed by the Durham Symphony Orchestra’s talent and affection for music. The main reason that people play with the symphony is the love of music. When I first conducted them, I saw the incredible talent and love and commitment to making this a great orchestra for a great city; when I was offered the position, there wasn’t any doubt that I wanted to work with this institution. I was very honored. I’m looking forward to the opening of DSO’s 40th season at Northgate Mall on October 25 as well as celebrating my 20th anniversary with the NCSO, teaching at WPU and composing a new orchestral piece called ‘Autumn,’ debuting March 2017. The highlight of my career was conducting the North Carolina premiere of my Martin Luther King Jr. tribute, ‘Eulogy For a Dream,’ with one of my childhood heroes, William Warfield, reading the text that uses Dr. King’s words. Growing up, I hardly had any other African-American classical music role models, so to get a chance to collaborate with him some 35 years later on a piece that I wrote was obviously exciting to me. The audience was thrilled; we received a standing ovation and the kind of reviews that your mother would write for you. Had I not chosen this path, I probably would be a jazz pianist in the mode of the late, great Oscar Peterson. Though I have devoted my life to music, my No. 1 passion since childhood has been reading, primarily nonfiction – history, biographies, etc. I haunt used bookstores like Nice Price Books and Reader’s Corner and Edward McKay in Raleigh. You never know what you’ll find at these places, and a bargain doesn’t distress me either.” DM
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