Noma Hallowell "Ma" Graham: Houston's Cultural Pioneer and Music Educator (1884–1957)

Noma Hallowell “Ma” Graham, musician, educator, and cultural entrepreneur and promoter, daughter of Samuel Nesbit Hallowell and Elizabeth J. (Brumbaugh) Graham, was born in Dahlgren, Illinois, on February 19, 1884. She grew up in Dahlgren, where her father ran a dry goods store. Noma Hallowell married John Wesley Graham on July 19, 1906, in Dahlgren. They had no children. The couple moved to Houston, Texas, in 1910 when he established the Graham Hat Company, a wholesale distributor for Stetson hats along with other caps and gloves.

Noma Graham became the choir director of the First Methodist Church in Houston and served there from 1910 to 1930. She advertised her services as a voice and piano teacher in the Houston Post and presented annual student recitals at her church. Known as “Ma” to her pupils, for many performances she was the piano accompaniment for her voice students. In 1915 she also served as chair of the music department of the Texas Woman’s Fair, which was held in Houston in October. In 1922 the first radio concert in Houston was given by Graham’s music students. She was a strong advocate of mass publicity and personal promotion and quickly emerged as a civic leader regarding the city’s cultural endeavors. Graham was described as a “personality of rare color, temerity, and impulse” and was known for her “Vesuvius temperaments” when scorned.

In 1930, with the Houston Symphony Orchestra dormant since 1918, Graham set about to form an orchestra herself. Her ultimate goal was to mount a production of Aida for performance at the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. She travelled to Italy to search for a conductor for her proposed orchestra and discovered a young opera coach and conductor, Uriel Nespoli, in Milan. With the assistance of the United States Secretary of State to modify existing immigration quotas, Graham managed to relocate Nespoli to Houston. Maestro Nespoli auditioned instrumental musicians at the Houston Merchants & Manufacturers Building and established a new orchestra for the city. With the momentum of the Graham orchestra and that from the spontaneous creation of two additional ensembles newly-established in the city, the leaders of the dormant Houston Symphony felt pressed to reestablish their organization which quickly drafted Nespoli as its conductor. The first concert of this reborn Houston Symphony was held on May 7, 1931.

Ma Graham accepted the invitation to perform Aida at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. She made every effort to mount a production that emphasized the Texas connections in her company and advertised that, of the 1,500 members of the opera company, 900 were Texas singers. Some of the principals were either Texas natives, including Dreda Aves, or had been former residents of the state and presented impressive credentials as members of the Metropolitan Opera Company, Chicago Civic Opera, and other organizations. Special trains from Texas carried several hundred opera lovers, including various dignitaries, along with representatives of Governor Miriam Ferguson, to Chicago for the August 23, 1933, performance. One reviewer with the Chicago Tribune estimated that 25,000 to 30,000 listeners attended the Soldier Field production by the Texas Grand Opera Company, and he gave the performance high praise.

In 1934 Graham put on a lavish production of Faust that was performed by the Texas Grand Opera at City Auditorium in Houston on April 9. The opera was carried out to raise funds for the Houston Anti-Tuberculosis League to purchase its first x-ray equipment. She was later honored for her efforts by the Harris County Tuberculosis Association in 1956. Despite her propensity for personal attention, she worked tirelessly for the city she loved. She was longtime music director of the Houston Fair and Exposition. She had also served as president of the Texas Music Teachers Association (1932 and 1933). At the age of seventy-two, Noma Hallowell “Ma” Graham died in Houston, Texas, on November 4, 1957, and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Illinois. Following her death, the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution memorializing her.