#1: Gabriela Ortiz Torres
A Mexican composer and teacher known internationally for her compositions, Gabriela Ortiz which have been performed at international festivals such as the Cervantino, the Bourges International Festival in France, the Electrifying Exotica and the Plugged Festival in London. Her early musical influences come from her family; her parents were members of the group The Folkloristas, so some of Ortiz’s influences were Mexican and Latin American folk music. She attended the Escuela Nacional de Música, where she obtained a degree in Composition, having as teachers Federico Ibarra and Mario Lavista. With the latter, she also studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. She finished her studies at the Guidhall School of music and drama where she studied with Robert Saxton and at the City University of London where she studied electroacoustics with Simmons Emmerson.
ABOUT ATLAS PUMAS
Atlas Pumas a piece in three movements for marimba and violin recorded by the Southwest Chamber Music for the artist Shalini Vijayan, Lynn Vartan.
The first movement Vivo energico e molto ritmico was really well named by the composer because it gives a lot of energy and dynamism and is like a glass of cool water on a hard summer day.
The rhythm is very active and is one of the main factors of the piece. There are some very technical parts, with many fast and complicated passages, combined with other softer and lyrical ones.
The dynamics is mostly in the high part of the spectrum although there are some softer parts as I have indicated before. As for the register, it is really wide, especially in the violin, where there are some softer parts.
Talking about the second movement we can say that it is totally different from the first one. It is quieter and calmer, the dynamics and character are of expressiveness and uniformity.
There are some climax points but in a less strong dynamic. The rhythm is more stable in terms of stability, on the other hand the register is still huge with different high and low notes.
To finish with this composer, I can say that the third movement is a kind of mix between the other two, with the softness and expressiveness of the second at the beginning of the movement and the energy and virtuosity of the first later.
So we have a similar treatment in some material but with another air of mythicization and mystery.
For me it is a more diverse and complete movement because of the complexity and variety of the music.
I would also like the mix of sounds between the violin and the marimba to work very well.
-Rose Khorsandi
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
ABOUT ATLAS PUMAS
Atlas Pumas a piece in three movements for marimba and violin recorded by the Southwest Chamber Music for the artist Shalini Vijayan, Lynn Vartan.
The first movement Vivo energico e molto ritmico was really well named by the composer because it gives a lot of energy and dynamism and is like a glass of cool water on a hard summer day.
The rhythm is very active and is one of the main factors of the piece. There are some very technical parts, with many fast and complicated passages, combined with other softer and lyrical ones.
The dynamics is mostly in the high part of the spectrum although there are some softer parts as I have indicated before. As for the register, it is really wide, especially in the violin, where there are some softer parts.
Talking about the second movement we can say that it is totally different from the first one. It is quieter and calmer, the dynamics and character are of expressiveness and uniformity.
There are some climax points but in a less strong dynamic. The rhythm is more stable in terms of stability, on the other hand the register is still huge with different high and low notes.
To finish with this composer, I can say that the third movement is a kind of mix between the other two, with the softness and expressiveness of the second at the beginning of the movement and the energy and virtuosity of the first later.
So we have a similar treatment in some material but with another air of mythicization and mystery.
For me it is a more diverse and complete movement because of the complexity and variety of the music.
I would also like the mix of sounds between the violin and the marimba to work very well.
-Rose Khorsandi
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#2: Montague Ring (amanda aldridge)
Amanda Aldridge was born on March 10, 1866 in Upper Norwood, London. Aldridge was the third child of African-American actor, Ira Frederick Alrdridge. While at the Royal College of Music, Amanda Aldridge studied voice under some of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century: Jenny Lind and Sir George Henschel. Aldridge worked as a concert singer, piano accompanist, and voice teacher and continued her work as a music educator when a throat condition ended her concert appearances. At that point, Amanda turned to teaching some of her most notable students: Roland Hayes, Lawrence Benjamin Brown, Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. She also published about thirty songs between the years 1907 and 1925 in a romantic parlour style, as well as instrumental music in other styles.
-Danny Rivera
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Danny Rivera
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#3: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an Anglo-African composer and conductor who was born to a Sierra Leonean father and English mother in Holborn, London on August 15, 1875. At an early age his father, who was a physician by profession was forced to go back to his country because they refused to let him practice medicine. That left Coleridge-Taylor to be raised by his mother and his maternal family. In his early years, he was taught violin and at the age of fifteen, he was accepted in the Royal College of Music where he studies violin. He later changed his major from violin to composition and he was under the tutelage of Charles Villiers Stanford. In 1896 he became the conductor of the Croyden Conservatoire. In 1898 he was commissioned to write a piece for a music festival. The “Ballade in A minor” ended up being a great start to his career as well as his trilogy of pieces inspired by Hiawatha. Coleridge-Taylor married Jessie Walmisley who also attended Royal College of Music. He had two children-Hiawatha and Gwendolyn Avril who both went into musical careers.
Another highlight of Coleridge-Taylor’s life was him hearing African-American spirituals. Later in 1899, he listened to the Fisk singers and he was inspired by their music and composed 24 Negro Melodies. In returning the gratitude, black performers started forming groups to play his music in the United States. Around the early 1900s his music started to get so popular in the united states he got the nickname of “Black Mahler.” He did some tours in the United States in 1904, 1906, and 1910. He was invited by President Teddy Roosevelt to the White House. He became friends with political figured like W.E.B. DuBois and fellow creatives like Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He composed and shared his music during the last years of his life. On September 1st, 1912 he passed away from pneumonia.
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
Another highlight of Coleridge-Taylor’s life was him hearing African-American spirituals. Later in 1899, he listened to the Fisk singers and he was inspired by their music and composed 24 Negro Melodies. In returning the gratitude, black performers started forming groups to play his music in the United States. Around the early 1900s his music started to get so popular in the united states he got the nickname of “Black Mahler.” He did some tours in the United States in 1904, 1906, and 1910. He was invited by President Teddy Roosevelt to the White House. He became friends with political figured like W.E.B. DuBois and fellow creatives like Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He composed and shared his music during the last years of his life. On September 1st, 1912 he passed away from pneumonia.
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
#4: Vicente Lusitano
Vincente was a Portuguese composer and theorist of the late Renaissance. He was born in Olivenca to, presumably, a white father and a Black mother around 1522. He’s generally known as “the first black published composer”. He wrote a number of choral works, including Latin motets and a madrigal.
-Adam Huang & Danny Rivera
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
-Adam Huang & Danny Rivera
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
#5: Ignatius sancho
Ignatius Sancho was an English composer, business owner, and writer who lived from 1729 to December 14th, 1780. He was born on a slave ship that was en route from Guinea to the Spanish West Indies. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father took his own life in opposition to a life of enslavement. He ended up in the care of the Legge sisters in England. In order to stifle his progression and growth they tried to control him by not allowing him to read or to do anything towards his development. Sancho in his adulthood said that "... I was placed in a family who judged ignorance the best and only security for obedience." He met the second Duke of Montagu, John Montagu, who encouraged his curiosity for reading and education overall.
Sancho eventually ran away to the Montagu household where he went to work under their care. He worked as a butler and he continued to serve the Montague household even after the Duke passed away and the Duchess continued that until she passed away as well. The Duke even included him in his will and it consisted of 70 pounds and a contract of 30 pounds.
After leaving the Montagu household, he did more things in the world of music as a composer. He was well known in the creative circles in England. He composed mainly parlor music that people could dance to. He was a father to six children. He taught all his children how to read and all of them were educated and did amazing things in their careers as well. He was also a writer. He wrote a lot of his works under the pseudonym Africanus. He wrote to editors advocating for abolition of the slave trade. As a business owner, he was the first black business owner in England and he was the first black English person to vote. On December 14, 1780. Ignatius Sancho passed away from the effects of gout and was buried in the churchyard of Saint Margaret's in Westminster.
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
Sancho eventually ran away to the Montagu household where he went to work under their care. He worked as a butler and he continued to serve the Montague household even after the Duke passed away and the Duchess continued that until she passed away as well. The Duke even included him in his will and it consisted of 70 pounds and a contract of 30 pounds.
After leaving the Montagu household, he did more things in the world of music as a composer. He was well known in the creative circles in England. He composed mainly parlor music that people could dance to. He was a father to six children. He taught all his children how to read and all of them were educated and did amazing things in their careers as well. He was also a writer. He wrote a lot of his works under the pseudonym Africanus. He wrote to editors advocating for abolition of the slave trade. As a business owner, he was the first black business owner in England and he was the first black English person to vote. On December 14, 1780. Ignatius Sancho passed away from the effects of gout and was buried in the churchyard of Saint Margaret's in Westminster.
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#6: Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Daughter of celebrated composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Jessie Walmisley, Avril Coleridge-Taylor was a 20th century composer, pianist, and conductor. Her given name was Gwendolyn Avril, but she simply used “Avril” for her professional life. Coleridge-Taylor followed in her father’s footsteps by pursuing composition, and studied at the Trinity College of Music in London. Avril broke boundaries in her musical career, especially regarding conducting. She was the first female conductor of the H.M.S. Royal Marines band, and regularly conducted for prestigious orchestras such as the BBC orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. In order to preserve her father’s name and work, she also founded Samuel Coleridge-Taylor orchestra and music society, of which she was the conductor. Avril did not have as extensive a list of her own compositions as her father, but she was an accomplished composer and piano performer. After a tour in South Africa where Avril experienced restrictions as an Afro-European composer and performer, she was inspired to write music surrounding her cultural heritage. Her piece, Ceremonial March, was composed to celebrate Ghana’s independence. Shortly before she died, she wrote a biography of her father, The Heritage of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#7: Clarence cameron white
Clarence Cameron White was a black violinist and composer. He began studying the violin at the age of eight and wrote his first composition for violin and piano at the age of fourteen. After graduating from Howard University, White entered the Oberlin Conservatory in 1896 and graduated in 1901. He studied and performed in Boston, New Haven, and New York where he drew the attention of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Harry T. Burleigh, and Booker T. Washington. In 1903 he was invited to join the Washington D.C Conservatory and later taught in public schools there.
He was also director of music at West Virginia State College from 1924 to 1931. His opera composition titled Ouanga which means “Voodoo Charm” was performed in Chicago, where it won an award from the American Opera Society of Chicago. He played at many of the principal concert halls in the United States and Europe, and received critical praise as a touring violinist.
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
He was also director of music at West Virginia State College from 1924 to 1931. His opera composition titled Ouanga which means “Voodoo Charm” was performed in Chicago, where it won an award from the American Opera Society of Chicago. He played at many of the principal concert halls in the United States and Europe, and received critical praise as a touring violinist.
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#8: robert nathaniel dett
Robert Nathaniel Dett was a composer, pianist, teacher, writer and choir director, among many other talents. He was known for his fusion of African American spirituals and European classical music in the Romantic style. Like so many other African American composers at the time, he was greatly influenced by Samuel-Coleridge Taylor, however, Dett was also a leading force in the field himself. His music is often described as being refined, sophisticated, and technically demanding. Dett grew up in Ontario, Canada near Niagara Falls. His mother was Canadian, and his father, African American.
Growing up, his family provided him with an artistic background. He was put in piano lessons at a young age, encouraged to study poetry, and his grandmother sang spirituals to him. When he was young he mostly played salon music, which was reflected in his compositional style when he first started school. His first musical job was playing organ at his church when he was 16. However, through the influence of Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor, he realized that his true calling was to use African-American folk songs and spirituals as influence for his music. Like Dvorak, and Coleridge-Taylor, he wanted to bring his folk music to the classical music canon. His goal was to achieve the highest musical art that he could in a way that felt true to him. Dett was the first African American to graduate from Oberlin with a dual degree in piano performance and composition. He also married the first Black female graduate of Juilliard Conservatory. He received two honorary doctorates, but still decided to go back to school to pursue his masters degree at Eastman School of Music.
Dett was also an accomplished writer. His work, The Emancipation of Negro Music, won The Bowdoin Award from Harvard University. Before completing his masters, Dett taught at Lane College in Tennessee where his compositions focused on pieces for students, including one of his most played pieces, Juba Dance, which is the last movement of his piano work, In the Bottoms. Dett mainly wrote vocal music and piano music. Dett was also involved at an institutional level in furthering access and education to African Americans in all genres of music. He and Clarence Cameron White co-founded the National Association of Negro Musicians, an organization dedicated to the advocacy and preservation of African American music and musicians. He also became involved with the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, which represented teachers in the South during segregation. Most notably, he became the first Black director of the Hampton Institute Music Department where he trained a choir of African American students to new found musical expertise. The group performed at Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Dett died while serving as a choral advisor for the United Services Organization. 55 years after his death, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale was founded in Canada. The group performs his music as well as other composers of African descent. The church where Dett once was the organist as a teenager, was renamed in honor of him.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
Growing up, his family provided him with an artistic background. He was put in piano lessons at a young age, encouraged to study poetry, and his grandmother sang spirituals to him. When he was young he mostly played salon music, which was reflected in his compositional style when he first started school. His first musical job was playing organ at his church when he was 16. However, through the influence of Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor, he realized that his true calling was to use African-American folk songs and spirituals as influence for his music. Like Dvorak, and Coleridge-Taylor, he wanted to bring his folk music to the classical music canon. His goal was to achieve the highest musical art that he could in a way that felt true to him. Dett was the first African American to graduate from Oberlin with a dual degree in piano performance and composition. He also married the first Black female graduate of Juilliard Conservatory. He received two honorary doctorates, but still decided to go back to school to pursue his masters degree at Eastman School of Music.
Dett was also an accomplished writer. His work, The Emancipation of Negro Music, won The Bowdoin Award from Harvard University. Before completing his masters, Dett taught at Lane College in Tennessee where his compositions focused on pieces for students, including one of his most played pieces, Juba Dance, which is the last movement of his piano work, In the Bottoms. Dett mainly wrote vocal music and piano music. Dett was also involved at an institutional level in furthering access and education to African Americans in all genres of music. He and Clarence Cameron White co-founded the National Association of Negro Musicians, an organization dedicated to the advocacy and preservation of African American music and musicians. He also became involved with the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, which represented teachers in the South during segregation. Most notably, he became the first Black director of the Hampton Institute Music Department where he trained a choir of African American students to new found musical expertise. The group performed at Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Dett died while serving as a choral advisor for the United Services Organization. 55 years after his death, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale was founded in Canada. The group performs his music as well as other composers of African descent. The church where Dett once was the organist as a teenager, was renamed in honor of him.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE & HERE
#9: dorothy rudd moore
Considered one of her generation’s leading woman composers of color, Dorothy Rudd Moore received commissions from such orchestras as the National Symphony, Opera Ebony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. Her work includes chamber pieces, song cycles, orchestral music, and an opera, which is admired for its high level of artistry and its seriousness of purpose. By her teens, Moore knew that she wanted to become a composer, yet there were few role models in this field for a young Black women. Moore’s parents fully supported her ambitions. She continued her study of piano at the Wilmington School of Music, and became a student of Howard University. In 1968, she co-founded the Society of Black Composers. Among her best-known compositions are two works for voice, cello, and piano: From the Dark Tower (1970) and Weary Blues (1972), which is based on texts by Black American poets.
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#10: harry thacker burleigh
Harry Thacker Burleigh played a significant role in the development of American art song, having composed over two hundred works in this genre. He was one of the first African-American composers acclaimed for both concert songs as well as adaptations of African-American spirituals. His maternal grandfather had been enslaved but successfully purchased his own freedom. In 1892, at the age of twenty-six, he received a scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music in New York where he studied with Christian Fritsch, Rubin Goldmark, John White, and Max Spicker. In 1894, he auditioned for the post of soloist at St. George’s Episcopal Church of New York. Through his talent and dedication, Burleigh won the hearts and the respect of the entire church community. Burleigh’s achievement in solo vocal writing is best represented by his original song cycles such as Saracen Songs (1914), Passionale (1915), and Five Songs of Laurence Hope (1915) which is considered by many to be his finest work.
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Adam Huang
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#11: william grant still
#12: margaret bonds
In 1913 in Chicago, Illinois, Margaret A. Bonds was born to parents Dr. Monroe Majors and Estella C. Bonds, who separated during Margaret’s early childhood. Margaret grew up in a house filled with music, where both her mother and grandmother were respected musicians and educators. Their home became a gathering space for black musicians, writers, and thinkers of the Chicago Renaissance. As a young child, Margaret’s gift for the piano was already visible. She began to study composition with Florence Price, who lived in Margaret’s home briefly during the Great Depression. Margaret furthered her study of piano and composition at Northwestern University and Juilliard. It was here that she gained recognition for her compositions that exemplified and showcased the melding of European style with African-American Spirituals. Margaret was the first African American soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony. Through her compositions and playing, Margaret A. Bonds broke racial and gender barriers in the classical world, paving the way for future black musicians and composers.
-Kristine Caswelch
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Kristine Caswelch
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#13: william levi dawson
William Levi Dawson (September 26, 1899 – May 2, 1990) was an American composer, choir director, and professor. He was born in Anniston, Alabama. In 1912, Dawson studied music full-time as a student at the Tuskegee Institute in Missouri, Kansas City. After that, he continued to study at the Chicago school of art. Early in his career, he worked at the Chicago Civic Orchestra as a trombone player. While he continued as an active choral conductor, he gained recognition for his composing talent. Some of his works include his piano trio, string quartet, and symphony.
-Haozhe Lou
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
-Haozhe Lou
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#14: scott joplin
Scott Joplin is most famously known as the "King of Ragtime." He wrote 100 original ragtime pieces, including the archetypal rag, Maple Leaf Rag. Joplin had a one cent royalty on the piece. Due to great popularity, this small percentage provided Joplin with a small but steady income. It was even believed that Joplin was the first musician to sell 1 million copies of a piece of instrumental music.
He was born to a musical family near the Texas, Arkansas border in either 1867 or 1868. The first official record of him was the census taken when he was two years old. His father, Giles Joplin, was a formerly enslaved man from North Carolina. He worked on the railroads and played violin at plantation parties. Joplin’s mother, Florence Givens, worked as a cleaner and she played banjo and sang. When Joplin was seven, he was allowed to play piano while his mother cleaned. He was taught by multiple local teachers, but namely Julius Weiss, a German born Jewish American man. Weiss taught Joplin free of charge and introduced him to folk, classical and operatic music. He taught Joplin to appreciate music as "art as well as an entertainment." Joplin never forgot his teacher and sent gifts and money when Weiss was old and ill.
Though Joplin is most known for writing ragtime, he also composed two operas and one ballet. His opera, Treemonisha was only staged once during his lifetime, at his own expense. The only accompaniment for the opera was Joplin at the piano. Met with an indifferent audience, he felt discouraged and worn out. It wasn’t until 1970 that Treemonisha would get a full theatrical staging. During this time, Joplin was battling his deteriorating health to see Treemonisha completed. He died of syphilitic dementia in 1917 at the age of 48.
-Rose Khorsandi
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
He was born to a musical family near the Texas, Arkansas border in either 1867 or 1868. The first official record of him was the census taken when he was two years old. His father, Giles Joplin, was a formerly enslaved man from North Carolina. He worked on the railroads and played violin at plantation parties. Joplin’s mother, Florence Givens, worked as a cleaner and she played banjo and sang. When Joplin was seven, he was allowed to play piano while his mother cleaned. He was taught by multiple local teachers, but namely Julius Weiss, a German born Jewish American man. Weiss taught Joplin free of charge and introduced him to folk, classical and operatic music. He taught Joplin to appreciate music as "art as well as an entertainment." Joplin never forgot his teacher and sent gifts and money when Weiss was old and ill.
Though Joplin is most known for writing ragtime, he also composed two operas and one ballet. His opera, Treemonisha was only staged once during his lifetime, at his own expense. The only accompaniment for the opera was Joplin at the piano. Met with an indifferent audience, he felt discouraged and worn out. It wasn’t until 1970 that Treemonisha would get a full theatrical staging. During this time, Joplin was battling his deteriorating health to see Treemonisha completed. He died of syphilitic dementia in 1917 at the age of 48.
-Rose Khorsandi
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#15: julia perry
Julia Perry was a Black female composer lived from March 25th, 1924, to April 25th, 1979. She was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Julia was one of five children, and they were all musically inclined in which they played instruments and had vocal lessons. Her family had been living in Lexington since the late 1800s which was the post-Civil War era. During that time there was an uptick in progression in Black society in Lexington and it continued to progress into the 1900s where Perry would be surrounded by this community.
In 1934 she moved to Akron, Ohio. She went to college at the Westminster Choir College, and she went to study voice, piano, and composition from 1943 to 1948. The first piece, on record, that she wrote was Prelude for piano in 1946. When she went to Westminster she was known more as a vocalist and later in her college career she chose to focus more on composition. During this time, she did some teaching at Hampton University, but she was not happy and she chose to pursue composition even further during the 1950s. She studied at the Conservatoire American with Nadia Boulanger. Around this time, she received her first Guggenheim fellowship in 1953. She also received another Guggenheim fellowship in 1956 and thus making her the first Black American composer to receive to Guggenheim fellowship prizes. Prior to Italy, she mainly wrote adaptations to spirituals, and while in Italy she began to expand her compositional voice. Due to her losing popularity of her works, she found it difficult to sustain herself back in the States and also after her first stroke in 1970. In 1979 she passed away from her second stroke. Although her music is still being collected and orphaned, her legacy is still a current project to piece back together
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
In 1934 she moved to Akron, Ohio. She went to college at the Westminster Choir College, and she went to study voice, piano, and composition from 1943 to 1948. The first piece, on record, that she wrote was Prelude for piano in 1946. When she went to Westminster she was known more as a vocalist and later in her college career she chose to focus more on composition. During this time, she did some teaching at Hampton University, but she was not happy and she chose to pursue composition even further during the 1950s. She studied at the Conservatoire American with Nadia Boulanger. Around this time, she received her first Guggenheim fellowship in 1953. She also received another Guggenheim fellowship in 1956 and thus making her the first Black American composer to receive to Guggenheim fellowship prizes. Prior to Italy, she mainly wrote adaptations to spirituals, and while in Italy she began to expand her compositional voice. Due to her losing popularity of her works, she found it difficult to sustain herself back in the States and also after her first stroke in 1970. In 1979 she passed away from her second stroke. Although her music is still being collected and orphaned, her legacy is still a current project to piece back together
-Janet Lagah-Bona
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#16: coleridge taylor-perkinson
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson was an African American composer, conductor, and pianist. Perkinson’s mother was an organist and piano teacher, and thus named her son after Afro-English composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Even from a young age, Perkinson lived up to his name, showing great musical interest and ability. Perkinson received most of his schooling in New York City, studying at the High School of Music, New York University, and Manhattan School of Music. While in high school, he won the High School Music and Art Choral Competition and the LaGuardia Prize for Music. At New York University, he studied education, initially wanting to be a public school teacher, however, he eventually decided he wanted to pursue music, and began studying composition at the Manhattan School of Music. He also spent some time at Princeton University studying composition. While he was on faculty at Brooklyn College, he spent his summers in Europe studying conducting. He was also the cofounder of the Symphony of the New World in New York, and served as the music director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Perkinson was a talented composer, proficient in several genres. He wrote music for films, a few ballets, and wrote the theme songs to several TV shows. He also went on tour with Max Roach, and was an arranger for lots of popular singers including Marvin Gaye and Harry Belefonte. Although his talent and drive were evident, Perkinson had a difficult time breaking through in the United States. He once said that when Max Roach called him about going on
tour, he happily went because he didn’t have any money, and he knew that he couldn’t make headway in America. He also said that when opportunities did come his way, they were either revoked or changed when they discovered he was Black. Perkinson’s compositional style was forward thinking for his time, it was a mix of atonal and tonal with heavy jazz influence. It was said that his music was impactful and carried strong messages. Perkinson died in 2004 in Chicago, Illinois. Up until his death, he was working at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago. There he was the coordinator of performance activities and directed the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
Perkinson was a talented composer, proficient in several genres. He wrote music for films, a few ballets, and wrote the theme songs to several TV shows. He also went on tour with Max Roach, and was an arranger for lots of popular singers including Marvin Gaye and Harry Belefonte. Although his talent and drive were evident, Perkinson had a difficult time breaking through in the United States. He once said that when Max Roach called him about going on
tour, he happily went because he didn’t have any money, and he knew that he couldn’t make headway in America. He also said that when opportunities did come his way, they were either revoked or changed when they discovered he was Black. Perkinson’s compositional style was forward thinking for his time, it was a mix of atonal and tonal with heavy jazz influence. It was said that his music was impactful and carried strong messages. Perkinson died in 2004 in Chicago, Illinois. Up until his death, he was working at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago. There he was the coordinator of performance activities and directed the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
#17: florence price
Florence Price was an accomplished composer, pianist, and teacher. She broke boundaries as a female, African American composer, being especially recognized for her symphonic compositions.
Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas into a middle class family. Her father was the only dentist in Little Rock. He previously had a successful dental practice in Chicago, but it was destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, so he moved his practice and family to Little Rock. It was also very successful in Little Rock. For a long time he had both Black and white patients. Her mother was an elementary school teacher, she taught all lessons including music. She was also a pianist and amateur vocalist. Price’s mother, Florence Irene, grew up in Indianapolis in a middle class family. Florence Irene grew up with strong female idols in her home, and was able to provide the same example for her daughter.
Price grew up in a racially integrated community and her parents and family home were a big part of her musical upbringing. Her mother would often entertain guests on the piano. Because Price was exposed to music at such a young age, she consequently began her musical career early on in life. She had her first piano performance at age four, and her first composition was published when she was eleven. One of her teachers was Charlotte Andrews Stephens, who was the first African American teacher in the Little Rock school district. Stephens ended up being a great influence for young Florence. After graduating valedictorian of her high school class (at age 14!), Price attended New England Conservatory when she was 16, where she pursued degrees in piano and organ performance. She was the only student in her class who pursued a double degree. She began studying composition while at NEC with professor George Whitefield Chadwick. Chadwick encouraged Price to use African American folk melodies and rhythms in her compositions. Price was among the most talented in her class. She regularly gave recitals and was asked to participate in school concerts, including commencement, which was a big achievement. She graduated with a degree in organ performance and a teaching degree for piano.
She initially moved back to Arkansas to teach, but she and her husband ended up moving to Chicago during the Great Migration as the Jim Crow situation worsened. Once an integrated community, Little Rock had become segregated and opportunities for Price and her family were slim. Once arriving in Chicago, Price joined the R. Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and the Allied Arts, and studied at various conservatories and colleges in the area, including what is now Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. This was the period where Price deeply studied composition and orchestration, really finding her unique voice. Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. She was the first female Black composer to have her work performed by a major American symphony. In Chicago she had success with her compositions, but she frequently ran into closed doors elsewhere. She approached the director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra which performs only a few blocks away from her alma mater, New England Conservatory, about performing one of her works, but she was met with silence.
Price’s compositional style was unique. Her writing was based in European Classical traditions, but her melodies were inspired by the Blues and by spirituals. She also incorporated rhythms from African American folk music into her work, as syncopation was a prominent feature in her writing, even noting herself the importance of rhythm in Black music. Florence Price died in 1953 in Chicago. After her death, several more of her scores were found in a house in St. Anne Illinois including her two violin concertos and her fourth symphony. Thankfully these works were not thrown away by the occupants of the house, and we have access to that music today. In 2018, G. Schirmer acquired exclusive rights to all of Florence Price’s music.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE
Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas into a middle class family. Her father was the only dentist in Little Rock. He previously had a successful dental practice in Chicago, but it was destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, so he moved his practice and family to Little Rock. It was also very successful in Little Rock. For a long time he had both Black and white patients. Her mother was an elementary school teacher, she taught all lessons including music. She was also a pianist and amateur vocalist. Price’s mother, Florence Irene, grew up in Indianapolis in a middle class family. Florence Irene grew up with strong female idols in her home, and was able to provide the same example for her daughter.
Price grew up in a racially integrated community and her parents and family home were a big part of her musical upbringing. Her mother would often entertain guests on the piano. Because Price was exposed to music at such a young age, she consequently began her musical career early on in life. She had her first piano performance at age four, and her first composition was published when she was eleven. One of her teachers was Charlotte Andrews Stephens, who was the first African American teacher in the Little Rock school district. Stephens ended up being a great influence for young Florence. After graduating valedictorian of her high school class (at age 14!), Price attended New England Conservatory when she was 16, where she pursued degrees in piano and organ performance. She was the only student in her class who pursued a double degree. She began studying composition while at NEC with professor George Whitefield Chadwick. Chadwick encouraged Price to use African American folk melodies and rhythms in her compositions. Price was among the most talented in her class. She regularly gave recitals and was asked to participate in school concerts, including commencement, which was a big achievement. She graduated with a degree in organ performance and a teaching degree for piano.
She initially moved back to Arkansas to teach, but she and her husband ended up moving to Chicago during the Great Migration as the Jim Crow situation worsened. Once an integrated community, Little Rock had become segregated and opportunities for Price and her family were slim. Once arriving in Chicago, Price joined the R. Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and the Allied Arts, and studied at various conservatories and colleges in the area, including what is now Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. This was the period where Price deeply studied composition and orchestration, really finding her unique voice. Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. She was the first female Black composer to have her work performed by a major American symphony. In Chicago she had success with her compositions, but she frequently ran into closed doors elsewhere. She approached the director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra which performs only a few blocks away from her alma mater, New England Conservatory, about performing one of her works, but she was met with silence.
Price’s compositional style was unique. Her writing was based in European Classical traditions, but her melodies were inspired by the Blues and by spirituals. She also incorporated rhythms from African American folk music into her work, as syncopation was a prominent feature in her writing, even noting herself the importance of rhythm in Black music. Florence Price died in 1953 in Chicago. After her death, several more of her scores were found in a house in St. Anne Illinois including her two violin concertos and her fourth symphony. Thankfully these works were not thrown away by the occupants of the house, and we have access to that music today. In 2018, G. Schirmer acquired exclusive rights to all of Florence Price’s music.
-Simone Cartales
LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST HERE