Adolphus Hailstork was born in Rochester, New York, on April 17, 1941. The Baroque Suite is scored for strings and (optional) harpsichord. Approximate performance time is twelve minutes.

American composer Adolphus Hailstork studied at Howard University, the American Institute of Fontainebleau in France, the Manhattan School of Music, and Michigan State University. Nadia Boulanger and David Diamond were among Mr. Hailstork’s distinguished teachers. Adolphus Hailstork’s own career as an educator has included affiliations with Michigan State University, Youngstown State University, and Norfolk State University. Adolphus Hailstork is currently a Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Norfolk’s Old Dominion University. His compositions span a wide range of vocal and instrumental genres.

Adolphus Hailstork’s Baroque Suite originated as a work for violin and harpsichord. Hailstork transcribed the Suite for the orchestra of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA. The orchestral version features strings and an optional harpsichord. The four movements (Prelude, Sarabande, Air, and Gigue) are all mainstays of instrumental suites of the Baroque era. In Hailstork’s Baroque Suite, the composer pays homage to such predecessors as Bach and Handel, while infusing the elegant music with a more contemporary harmonic flavor.

program notes by Ken Meltzer