Lieberson, Earl Robinson, Ken Benshoof, and Gerald Kechley. McKay himself was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to study in Europe in the 1920s but turned it down to stay in touch with his American musical roots and to care for his growing young family. His early teaching assignments took him to North Carolina, South Dakota and Missouri before he finally settled in Seattle; and he composed music celebrating all these locations. Music related to the Dakotas by McKay is still in publication. Professional recordings McKay's music is currently recorded professionally by NAXOS on four albums, including two symphonic CDs conducted by John McLaughlin Williams. More symphonic works were issued in 2008, including his hour-length American Dance Symphony, "Epoch", which celebrates four American poets (Poe, Lanier, Whitman, and Sandburg) and their place in history. "Epoch" was recently recorded by the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Nardolillo. William Bolcom, McKay's former student at the University of Washington, has recorded several early McKay jazz-influenced works and art songs on the piano. Brian Reagin has recorded McKay's violin concerto for an album that also includes "Suite on 16th Century Hymn Tunes," which demonstrates McKay's mastery of string music and love of melodic themes. McKay's prize-winning suite, "Medieval Dances for Flute and Harp", was released on Cantilena Records, performed by Laurel Zucker, on the flute, and Susan Jolles, harp. This work has been performed widely in concert, including at the World Harp Conference venue. For Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, Leonard Slatkin performed and recorded McKay's "To A Liberator (A Lincoln Portrait)” with the Nashville Symphony on NAXOS Records (February 2009). Significant performances Important historic performances of McKay's music have been presented by Leopold Stokowski with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Howard Hanson with the Eastman/Rochester Symphony, Frederick Fennell at Eastman, Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Civic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, Karl Krueger, and Milton Katims with the Seattle Symphony, Richard Hickox at Seattle Symphony, Arthur Benjamin with the CBC Symphony in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Carmen Dragon with Los Angeles and San Francisco Symphony players, and Fabien Sevitzky with the Indianapolis Symphony and Boston Civic Symphony. McKay's orchestral music was first broadcast in 1929 on NBC in a performance of his Caricature Dance Suite by Nat Shilkret's Orchestra. In following decades, live performances of his music were heard on virtually all the national radio networks, including his string quartet No. 1, which was presented in