Maestro William Henry Curry is a man of incredible talent, tenacity, and enthusiasm. His love of music is infectious and informs his rigorous approach to conducting as well as his ongoing outreach to community members. He grew up in Pittsburgh in an African-American working class family, and both he and his brother went on to become professional classical musicians. There was a musical lineage, even if it skipped a generation: his maternal grandfather organized and sang in a Black opera company while his paternal grandmother was an organ major at the New England Conservatory. It’s not easy for African-American classical musicians, and it’s especially difficult for African-American conductors. And Maestro Curry has met numerous challenges even as he has found great success. In this podcast, the Maestro talks about some of those challenges and successes all of it filtered through his great love of music which has been a lodestar he’s been following his entire life. He talks about his student days at the Oberlin Conservatory, his extraordinary twenty year run as resident conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, his working with jazz artists when he was resident conductor for the New Orleans Symphony, and his current position as the music director and conductor of the Durham Symphony Orchestra where he insists on robust programming of American composers. Maestro Curry is a passionate story-teller whose gusto is matched by his charm, wit, and humor.