Louis W. Ballard

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Louis W. Ballard (born July 8, 1931) is a Native American composer, educator, author, artist, and journalist.

Ballard, who is of Cherokee, Quapaw, French and Scottish heritage, was born in the Native American community of Devil's Promenade, located near Quapaw, in northeast Oklahoma. His Quapaw name is Honganozhe, meaning "Stands With Eagles."

Ballard studied music at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa, where his composition instructor was Bela Rozsa; he later studied privately with Darius Milhaud, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Carlos Surinach, and Felix Labunski. He is the composer of numerous orchestral, choral, and chamber works, many composed on Native American themes or to texts in Native American languages. In addition, he has compiled several volumes of Native American songs for classroom use.

Ballard is the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. In February of 1997 he received a Lifetime Musical Achievement Award from the First Americans in the Arts in Beverly Hills, California.

He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.