Walker performs world premiere in Washington, D.C.

Gregory T.S. Walker, professor in the University of Colorado Denver College of Arts and Media (CAM) in the string program, performed the world-premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker's “Bleu” for solo violin at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on April 20. George Walker is Gregory's father.

The younger Walker performed playing a new computer-scanned “Betts” Stradivarius violin copy, known as the “Oberlin Betts.” Walker observed that the premiere “wasn't too bad; it's never easy to get used to a new instrument on short notice.”

A compact disc of Gregory Walker's own symphonic electric guitar music, “Electric Vivaldi: Global Solstice,” is scheduled for release next month from Centaur Records. It was co-produced by CAM Associate Professor Leslie Gaston. Walker also performed the “Electric Vivaldi Guitar Concerto” (from the CD) with the Northwest Civic Orchestra in Powell, Wyo., on May 4.