February is Black History Month, and a great opportunity to explore the music of black composers. That’s what the Classics a Day team felt, anyway. As always, I tried to find works and composers that I hadn’t shared before during #BlackHistoryMonth. Here are my posts for the first week. 02/01/22 Shawn Okpebholo – Two Black […]
Florence Price
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Florence Price Symphony No. 3 blends traditions
Florence Price wrote this about her third symphony, “No attempt has been made to project Negro music solely in the purely traditional manner.” In other words, her symphony wasn’t a collection of spirituals. Rather, it was her own original musical vision. And one that blended European symphonic and African-American musical traditions. This 1940 work has […]
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#ClassicsaDay #NAFTAclassics Week 4
The Classics a Day team once again made NAFTA Classics the theme for July. Two of the three countries in North America have significant holidays in the month — Canada Day (July 1), and Independence Day (July 4). As always with this theme, I simply alternated between Canadian, American, and Mexican composers. And the process […]
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American Quintets Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective Debut
There are plenty of quintets by American composers to choose from. But the three presented here by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective hit that sweet spot for me. They’re all first-rate compositions, they’re not over-represented either in recordings or in concert, and they’re all played exceptionally well. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective is just that — a […]
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#ClassicsaDay #BlackHistoryMonth Week 2
The Classics a Day team has celebrated Balck composers before. This time around, I tried to avoid duplication with previous posts. It was easy to do. There is a lot of classical music by persons of color, both in the past as well as the present. A lot. Here are my posts for the second […]
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#ClassicsaDay #BlackLivesMatter Week 3
The Classics a Day team unanimously decided to make #BlackLivesMatter the theme for July. Classical music isn’t immune to systemic racism. It’s an art form that, like painting, sculpture, literature, or poetry, is a powerful form of expression for many voices. But some voices are heard more often than others. If you’d like to learn […]
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#ClassicsaDay Revisits #NAFTAclassics – Week 4
The Classics a Day team is made up of Americans and Canadians. The month of July has important national holidays for both countries. And so the theme for July is the music of North America. (Mexico doesn’t have a major holiday in July, but we decided to be inclusive). In my posts for #ClassicsaDay I […]
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#ClassicsaDay #BlackMusicMonth Week 3
Since 1979, June has been African-American Music Appreciation Month. The Classics a Day team decided to adopt it for the June 2019 theme as well. Popular music genres will no doubt be well-represented by others. We’ll be focusing on the composers, conductors, and performing artists of color who have contributed to classical music. For my […]
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Florence Price Symphonies On Par with Dvorak
As pressure mounts for orchestras to diversify their programming, Florance Foster Price has risen in prominence. Price was a composer of color active in the late 1930s and 40s. Her first symphony, completed in 1932 won a competition and was premiered by the Chicago Symphony in 1933. Stylistically, the work owes much to Antonin Dvorak […]