Music
Lettie Beckon Alston
1953–2014 · composer, pianist, professor
Detroit-born composer and pianist, the first African American to earn a doctorate in composition at the University of Michigan, who taught at Oakland University for two decades.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Hawaii- Also known as
- Lettie Alston
- Detroit years
- 1953–2014
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Alston was born in Detroit in 1953 and earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees at Wayne State University. In 1983 she received a doctorate in composition from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom and Eugene Kurtz; she was the first African American to earn that degree there. In 1991 she joined the music faculty of Oakland University in Rochester as an associate professor. She wrote for orchestra, chamber groups, voices and solo instruments, often combining acoustic instruments with electronics, and her unaccompanied violin piece Pulsations was recorded on an anthology of music by African American women. In 1995 she launched Lettie Alston and Friends, a themed series of contemporary music concerts at Oakland University that ran until 2008, and in 2001 the two-CD set Keyboard Maniac showcased her playing on acoustic and electric piano. Her music was also heard at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. She died in 2014.
Highlights
- First African American doctorate in composition at the University of Michigan (1983)
- Wayne State University bachelor's and master's degrees
- Oakland University faculty from 1991
- Founded the Lettie Alston and Friends concert series (1995–2008)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
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 · 1970s
Wayne State University
Alston earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at Wayne State.
Worked here · 1991–2014
Oakland University
She taught music at Oakland University from 1991 and ran her Lettie Alston and Friends concerts there from 1995 to 2008.
Performed here · 1993
Detroit Symphony Orchestra — Orchestra Hall
Her piano music was performed at the Unisys African-American Forum Chamber Music Concert here in April 1993.