After graduating from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Music and English, Gregory T.S. Walker performed solo synthesizer concerts throughout California under the auspices of the University of California Touring Artists program before obtaining a masters degree in computer music from the University of California at San Diego. He performed his Concerto No. 1 for Orchestra and Synthesizer with the Oakland Sinfonietta and earned a second masters in musical composition from Mills College before completing a doctorate in composition at the University of Colorado.
In 1993, the Colorado Symphony commissioned Walker to compose what was acclaimed to be the first “rap symphony,” Dream N. the Hood, described as “an American masterpiece” by the Minneapolis Pioneer Press. He received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship in 2000.
In performances ranging from the Filharmonia Sudecka’s premiere of XUCUOYKCUFA in Poland to the Detroit Symphony’s reading of micro*phone for Amplified Orchestra, Walker has pushed the stylistic limits of contemporary music. Dr. Walker has been featured on National Public Radio and in Symphony magazine; his Looking for the Perfect Planet for Amplified Chorus and Video Sampler is the subject of a 2010 Travis Fowler documentary.
