WILLIAM HENRY CURRY - LIFE OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CONDUCTOR
By Sherri Holmes
DURHAM, NC - William Henry Curry is
a composer, professor and the Residence
Conductor of the NC Symphony as well
lessons in conducting, the instructor told
him that conducting could not be taught.
Curry says, “I remembered that after the
rehearsal, I couldn’t get the smile off of my
face. I was so happy.”
Eventually Curry became a conducting
major at the Oberlin Conservatory. At
age 21, he was asked to audition for
the Assistant Conductor position at the
Richmond Chamber Orchestra. Based on
his professor’s advice, Curry left school to
take the position in the fall of 1975. When
he arrived he was told that he would not
be given the title of Assistant Conductor.
The Board of Directors claimed it was
because his predecessor who had also been
an Oberlin student hadn’t worked out.
Curry says, “I’d moved all my stuff. I’d
given up my college dream of two degrees
and they’re saying they’re not going to
give me a title? Well, who the hell am I?”
Curry later found out that when the Board
of Directors discovered that an African
American had been hired, they were
furious and their response was “He doesn’t
exist to us.”
as the Music Director and Conductor of
the Durham Symphony Orchestra. His
story is one of incredible talent as well as
a determination to overcome racism and
follow his dream. As he says, he was led
by “an extreme love for this thing called
classical music.”
William Henry Curry is a gifted
conductor; his brother Robert is a gifted
cellist. It may seem unlikely that two
African American brothers from a lower
middle class family in Pittsburgh would
become professional musicians but go
back a couple of generations and the
picture becomes clear. Their maternal
grandfather organized an opera company
and performed the baritone in Verdi’s Il
Trovatore. Coincidently, many years later,
it would become the first opera that Curry
ever saw. The Curry boys also inherited
musical talent from their father’s side of
the family. Their paternal grandmother
won a scholarship to become an organ
major at the prestigious New England
Conservatory in 1915.
Still, as a result of the financial challenges,
the boys did not get involved with music
until a school program provided them with
free lessons and instruments. Curry and
his brother both inhaled the music. For
Curry, it was a deeply spiritual experience.
At age 15, his instructor who was also a
conductor, allowed Curry to conduct his
local orchestra. When Curry asked him for
16
For the first performance after Curry’s
arrival, the Richmond Chamber Orchestra
was due to perform Beethoven Symphony
Number 9. The
night before the
concert, the Music
Director fell ill and
Curry was told that
he would have to
conduct without a
rehearsal. Curry
says, “I’d never
conducted the
orchestra. And here
I am conducting the
most difficult, the
greatest symphony
ever written on 12
hours notice.”
Curry reflects, “It was a great
performance. A standing ovation. The
reviews were like my mom wrote them
from heaven. And that’s how my career
got its jump start. . . . Then all of a sudden
these interviews were coming for me to
audition (and I was able) to get the heck out
of the capital of the confederacy.
Curry’s career is filled with stories like
these. He says, “So along with the lovely
resume there have been doors slammed in
my face. .. I am talking about situations
where I know because they told me to my
face not my own fantasy. ‘You didn’t get
it because you’re black. . . Bill, you’re too
black.’
There are a lot of sacrifices that I have
made. Go to the NC Symphony. Look in
the orchestra. Are there any black people
there besides me? The answer is no. Look
in the audience are there any black people
besides me? Two? I am estranged from
my people by having chosen this career. .
. . . So if you go into this as a black person
be prepared to be by yourself in a sense.
Now the good news is as far as the
orchestra, they are always cool. It’s
Curry later
discovered that the
Board of Directors
had first tried to get
the Conductor from
the Washington, DC
orchestra to replace
the Music Director.
After he refused,
they were forced
to turn to Curry.
Curry was told that
since they had to
introduce him to the
media, they would
give him the title of
Assistant Conductor.
SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE | December 2014 | www.spectacularmag.com
just like (when) we broke into athletics.
Because at first there was resistance but
hell if you can knock that ball out of the
park, you’re my guy. You prove yourself.
Same with orchestra playing.”
Regardless of the obstacles he’s faced,
Curry has had an amazing career. He
has conducted virtually every major
orchestra in America. He was nominated
for a Grammy and is the only person
who has ever been the unanimous winner
of the Leopold Stokowski Conducting
Competition sponsored in Carnegie Hall.
When asked about his gift, he says, “There
is no one that could love music more than
me. No one could respect music more than
me . . . And when I conduct, that love and
respect is infectious. And it moves the
musicians and they are inspired by it. . .”
Today Curry divides his among
composing, conducting the Durham
Symphony and NC Symphony as well as
teaching at Peace College. He hopes to
one day write a musical. Curry is creating
a legacy that will continue to live in the
music that he composes, the musicians that
he mentors and the students he develops.
And there will be those who are moved
by his musical performances as well as
the image of an African American man
sharing his joy with the
world while he leads an
orchestra.
William Henry Curry
will conduct the Durham
Symphony Orchestra
in a Tribute to Martin
Luther King, Jr. on
January 17, 2014. The
concert will also honor
the 100th anniversary
of the birth of Historian
John Hope Franklin. John
Brown the Director of
Duke University’s Jazz
Program will also per