Margaret Rosezarian Harris

Margaret Rosezarian Harris (September 15, 1943 – March 7, 2000) was an American musician, conductor, composer, and educator, the first African-American woman to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and 13 other cities’ orchestras. Early life and education Margaret Rosezarian Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Dewey Harris, a railroad mechanic, and Clara Townsend Harris, a dressmaker. At age 3, she was recognized as a musical prodigy, and gave her first piano recital at Chicago’s Cary Temple Auditorium, performing more than twenty short pieces from memory. She toured the United States as a child performer until age 6. At age 10, after performing a movement from Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 20 (on November 17 and December 1, 1953) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and moved there with her mother. Her father didn’t come to Philadelphia, and he stayed in Chicago. Harris and her mother visited him. Career In 1970, she took over the role of musical director for the Broadway production of Hair, conducting an orchestra of seven older