George Frederick McKay was the first graduate in composition studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., in 1923, where he studied under Christian Sinding and Selim Palmgren. McKay attributed his appreciation of pure melody and the importance of folk culture to his association with Sinding, with whom he corresponded over several decades until Sinding's death. McKay later authored a poignant article concerning Sinding's time in America for Etude Magazine (November 1944 issue). Palmgren nominated McKay's violin sonata, composed at Eastman, for the Pulitzer Prize. Howard Hanson invited McKay back to Eastman many times between 1925 and 1960 for performances of the composer's music. McKay's "From the Black Hills" was performed by the Eastman Symphony and conducted by Hanson in the first American Composers Festival at Eastman in 1925, along with an early work by Aaron Copland and music of other contemporary composers. McKay's initial college studies began in accounting at Washington State University, and continued in music at the University of Washington under Carl Paige Wood. In his early student days in Seattle, the young composer experimented with jazz, ragtime and romantic art songs. Work at the University of Washington In 1927, Carl Paige Wood brought McKay back to the University of Washington as a new faculty member. McKay began a four-decade tenure of composing, teaching and leading performing groups in concerts of contemporary and American works in the Seattle metropolitan area. His compositions were performed by orchestras in Philadelphia, Boston, Indianapolis, Rochester, Washington D.C. (Smithsonian), Vancouver, B.C. (CBR Radio), New York (NBC Radio) and Los Angeles over the years, and the Seattle Symphony premiered several of his works, between 1930 and 1970, with the composer conducting in some performances. In 1952, McKay was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony to compose the city's Centennial Symphony, now known as "Evocation Symphony" or "Symphony for Seattle". This work has been professionally recorded by the National Symphony of Ukraine with John McLaughlin Williams conducting. Williams has been a strong advocate for McKay's orchestral music and has recorded seven of McKay symphonies, including the lively Native-American-influenced piece "From A Moonlit Ceremony" (premiered by Leopold Stokowski in 1946) and "Harbor Narrative", a portrayal of the Northwest Maritime scene from the early 20th century. Significant students McKay's students at the University of Washington included future winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, Guggenheim Grant and Grammy Award. These students include William Bolcom, Goddard