Adolphus Hailstork

Celebrated African American Composer and Educator

Adolphus C. Hailstork (b. 1941) is a prominent African-American composer and music educator, Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He grew up in Albany, New York, where he studied violin, piano, organ, and vocals. Hailstork received a B.M. degree in music theory from the Howard University in 1963 and a B.M. in composition from the Manhattan School Of Music in 1965. Adolphus Hailstork continued his studies at the Michigan State University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in composition in 1971. His teachers and mentors include Herbert Owen Reed, Mark Fax, Vittorio Giannini, David Diamond (2), and Nadia Boulanger.