Music
James Frazier
1940–1985 · conductor, composer
Detroit-born conductor, the son of a city sanitation worker, who won Italy's Cantelli Award in 1969 and composed a King Requiem premiered in Detroit.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
- Detroit years
- 1940–1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Frazier was the son of a Detroit sanitation worker and was enrolled at the Detroit Conservatory of Music at five. By sixteen he was conducting Mendelssohn's Elijah and Handel's Messiah from memory in Detroit churches. He took a chemistry degree at Wayne State University, and in his senior year conducted Elijah with the baritone William Warfield, who urged him to become a professional. After the National Music Camp at Interlochen and a master's at the University of Michigan, and with encouragement from Eugene Ormandy, he conducted the Detroit Symphony. In 1969 he won the Guido Cantelli Award in Italy, which opened doors in Leningrad, Minsk, Madrid, London and Philadelphia. On May 9, 1969, he premiered his King Requiem for Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit with Warfield as soloist, and he wrote 12th Street: A Soul Opera about life in his city. He became conductor of the Bogotá Symphony in 1981 and died in 1985, aged 44.
Highlights
- Won the Cantelli Award for conductors, Italy, 1969
- Premiered his King Requiem in Detroit on May 9, 1969
- Composed 12th Street: A Soul Opera about Detroit life
- Conducted the Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Leningrad Philharmonic
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · late 1950s–early 1960s
Wayne State University
Frazier earned a chemistry degree here and conducted Elijah with William Warfield in his senior year.