Carolyn Glover Utz (1913 – March 9, 2005) was an American musician,

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

and educator. She was a

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

player for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for 30 years and was the first black member of the orchestra's predecessor, the

Columbus Philharmonic Orchestra The Columbus Philharmonic Orchestra was a symphony orchestra of the United States, located in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1941 and disbanded in 1949, the Columbus Philharmonic was the first professional symphony orchestra in Columbus and was a prec ...

Biography

Utz grew up as the eldest daughter of college graduate Edward Glover and the first black woman to graduate from Ohio State University, Jessie F. Stephens Glove
OHIO STATE'S FIRST BLACK ALUMNA COULD NOT BE DENIED
in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

(OSU). She taught at several colleges after graduating from OSU, including at

North Carolina State College North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

, Kentucky State College, and

Edward Waters College Edward Waters University is a private Christian historically Black university in Jacksonville, Florida. It was founded in 1866 by members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church) as a school to educate freedmen and their children. ...

. In 1944, Utz was a candidate for the

. She auditioned with Izler Solomon, who was looking to hire black musicians. Utz, on

, became the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

member of the orchestra and was, at the time, the only black person working for an orchestra of its size in the country. Utz performed with the orchestra, which later became the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for 30 years. From 1974 to 1991, she was the

of the Top Teens Orchestra. Utz was a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen st ...

. She was inducted into the Chillicothe chapter of the Top Ladies of Distinction in 1984. In 1988, she was inducted into the

Ohio Women's Hall of Fame The Ohio Women's Hall of Fame was a program the State of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services ran from 1978 through 2011. The Hall has over 400 members. In 2019, the Hall's physical archives and online records were transferred to the S ...

. She was inducted into the Senior Musicians Hall of Fame in 1996. Utz died on March 9, 2005, at the age of 91.

References

External links

Columbus Black Women and Their Contributions Calendar
(1987)
Photograph
(1951) {{DEFAULTSORT:Utz, Carolyn 1913 births 2005 deaths American double-bassists American conductors (music) Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Ohio State University alumni African-American musicians North Carolina State University faculty Kentucky State University faculty Edward Waters College faculty 20th-century African-American women American women academics 20th-century American women