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19 African American Composers to Celebrate on Juneteenth (and Every Day of the Year)

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19 African American Composers to Celebrate on Juneteenth (and Every Day of the Year)

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Website:Composers/Musicians/Vocalists 1849-current, Info, Pics & Vid.

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The United States is known as the "land of the free and the home of the brave" after the concluding line of the "Star Spangled Banner," which became the national anthem in 1931. But the United States has not always been a land where everyone is free. It was not until January 1, 1863, after President Abraham Lincoln's signed the Emancipation Proclamation, that millions of enslaved African Americans were declared "free." Still, news of this historic proclamation and executive order did not reach all enslaved people in America at that time. It was not until June 19, 1865, just days before the last shot was fired in the Civil War, that enslaved African Americans learned of the Emancipation Proclamation and their new legal status as free citizens, a day we now celebrate as Juneteenth Independence Day. Even after Juneteenth, what it means to be "free" in America has continued to evolve, particularly for certain communities. Though African Americans have not historically enjoyed the same rights and privileges as others, their contributions to music have been nothing short of history-changing. Here are 19 composers to help you celebrate Juneteenth, and which in turn deserve to be celebrated.

Thomas Wiggins was born into slavery in 1849 in Harris County, Georgia. Unable to perform forced labor because he was born blind, Tom was permitted to explore the plantation where he and his parents lived in Columbus, Georgia after being purchased at auction by General James Neil Bethune. He soon became interested in music he heard from the Bethune house, and when the general noticed that he might show prodigious musical talent, decided to move him into his home to help nurture his gifts. He was hired out as a slave-musician in 1858 to a concert promoter, and the following year he performed at the White House for President James Buchanan. By the age of 16, he was playing concert halls in Europe, where he was marketed as "The Marvelous Musical Prodigy Blind Tom." Promoters also claimed he had no musical training, though in fact, he toured with a music professor who taught him. It is undeniable that while General Bethune allowed Tom to share his gifts with the world, he also exploited him. While Tom often performed four shows a day and toured extensively, James Bethune collected 90% of the profits from Tom's public appearances. Contemporary reports of Tom, including one by Mark Twain, have led historians to believe that Tom was likely autistic.

Although Scott Joplin did not invent ragtime, he is certainly one of the most well-known ragtime composers. Joplin began his early formal study of music with Julius Weiss, a Jewish music professor from Germany who emigrated to Joplin's home state of Texas in the 1860s. Joplin combined African American and European musical traditions to create original works, the best known of which may be his "Maple Leaf Rag." Though popularity of the "Maple Leaf Rag" during Joplin's lifetime has occasionally been exaggerated, sheet music sales for this piece alone helped provide him financial security for the rest of his life. Though none of his other rags were ever as popular as the "Maple Leaf Rag," he did write dozens of others, as well as a ragtime ballet, Frolic of the Bears, and two operas, A Guest of Honor and Treemonisha.

Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have her work performed by a major American symphony orchestra. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price moved to Chicago, where she was embraced by an active community of African American artists. Two essential members in her support network were Estelle Bonds and her daughter Margaret, who was also a composer and pianist. When Price was struggling as a single mother, the Bonds allowed Price and her two daughters to live with them. Together, Margaret and Florence decided to enter the Wanamaker Music Contest, sponsored by department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker to provide opportunities for composers of color. Price took home prizes in several of Wanamaker's contests, including the top prize in a competition that awarded her $500 and the opportunity to have a composition performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which took place on June, 15, 1933. The rest, as they say, is history.

One of America's most iconic and influential musicians is, without a doubt, Louis Armstrong. While "Satchmo" was a virtuosic trumpet player, many music lovers today may know him more for his instantly recognizable voice and style of singing. He is remembered in particularly for his recordings of songs like "La Vie En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World," and his collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald. But did you know that he was the first African American to headline in a Hollywood film when he appeared in Pennies from Heaven, and the first to host a nationally sponsored radio program?

Zenobia Powell Perry grew up in Boley, Oklahoma, a small town settled by emancipated African Americans who were once enslaved by members of the Muscogee Creek tribe. In Oklahoma, she first studied piano with Mayme Jones, who trained with the great composer R. Nathaniel Dett. In her early 20s, Perry moved to Rochester, NY, to study with Dett himself, before taking up composition lessons with William L. Dawson at Tuskegee Institute, and later with with Darius Milhaud. Though Perry's talent as a composer was encouraged at a relatively early age, she spent much of her career as a teacher and was only able to concentrate on composition in the second half of her career.

Born in Chicago, Margaret Bonds first studied piano with her mother, Estelle. She made history when she became the first African American woman to perform as a soloist alongside the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her CSO debut was especially auspicious because she performed on the same program that featured Symphony in E Minor by her dear friend and colleague Florence Price. That performance marked the first occasion that a major American orchestra performed a work by a woman of color.

Saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer Ornette Coleman helped to move jazz in new directions. His 1959 album The Shape of Jazz to Come shows an unorthodox approach to harmony that he would explore even further on his next release, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Jazz ensembles became more and more standardized during the middle of the 20 th century, with quartets that played a tune and then had its members take turns improvising on the tune's harmonic structure. In Free Jazz, Coleman threw the rules out the window, and had two quartets improvise simultaneously, with musicians performing solos when they wanted. In 2007, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his 2006 album Sound Grammar.

Did you know that before Nina Simone became one of America's most iconic jazz musicians that she wanted to have a career as a classical pianist? Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, began playing the piano at the age of three. With a preacher for a mother and a minister for a father, she began sharing her musical talents with her congregation in Tryon, North Carolina, where she was born and raised. The precocious musician eventually began taking piano lessons with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich. Her teacher instilled a love of classical music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert. Though Eunice, who later became known as Nina Simone, ultimately developed a successful career as a jazz musician, classical music never left her. Occasionally, in her performances of jazz standards, we can hear her lifelong love of classical music. This clip of Nina playing "Love Me or Leave Me," written originally in 1928 and which she later recorded in 1958 and 1966, shows her admiration for the Bach.

Composer and pianist Ramsey Lewis has earned 3 Grammy Awards and 7 gold records for popular hits like "The In Crowd" by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. One of his most popular hits has been "Sun Goddess," which was originally recorded in 1974 with Earth, Wind, & Fire. It turns out that this tune was almost never recorded. He said in the summer of 1974, he got a call from Maurice White, a former member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, who said, "I got a track that is gonna be bigger than 'The In Crowd' and I said, 'Come on!'" White had just finished playing with Sly and the Family Stone at Madison Square Garden, and could pass through Chicago on his way back to L.A. to record what later became "Sun Goddess." At first, Lewis was unsure if the tune would be a success, saying, "I don't have a B section, a C section, I don't even have a bridge. But Maurice said, 'Let's just play the melody and take turns soloing,' which we did. Later we decided to add the vocals, which take it to the next level." The Chicago native also composed classical works, including commissions for the Joffrey Ballet and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which premiered his Concerto for Jazz Trio in 2015 at the Ravinia Festival, where he is the artistic director of jazz.

Just the mention of the name "Stevie Wonder" is likely to fill your head with countless songs by the composer, keyboardist, and singer. Wonder has been singing straight to our hearts for decades. He recorded one of his early hit singles, "Fingertips," in 1962 at the ripe age of 12, and has continued to write and record chart-topping songs ever since. But rather than just write hits and collect checks, Wonder has also used his music for activism. He recorded a new version of "Happy Birthday" dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1981, and in fact, one of the reasons we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is because of that song. At the time, King did not have a day commemorating his life and legacy. Wonder performed the song at the Rally for Peace on January 15, 1981, in on the National Mall in Washington D.C., and said, "As an artist, my purpose is to communicate the message that can better improve the lives of all of us."

Prince is definitely on the short list of musicians we could call a "Mozart of our time." The performer and composer wrote hundreds of songs and played dozens of instruments. In fact, he played a total of 27 instruments on his debut album (though many were different kinds of keyboards, guitars, and percussion instruments), and most of the instruments on all five of his first few albums. Among his many accolades are eight Grammy Awards, one of which he earned for writing "I Feel for You" for Chaka Khan, and an Academy Award, which he won for Best Original Song Score for the title track to Purple Rain. He was a pioneer in the recording studio and on stage, where he often subverted gender norms.

"Isn't it interesting that the top piece that you think of as a 'black' opera is by Gershwin?" composer Nkeiru Okoye asked in a recent interview. "He's white, he's Jewish. The first thing that comes to people's minds when they think 'composer' is a white man. It's hard for me as a woman of color to say, 'Hey, I want to write an opera.'" Her first opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, tells the story of one of history's most fascinating figures. As a native New Yorker of African American and Nigerian descent, Okoye's work is a patchwork quilt that stitches together diverse musical styles. Her orchestral works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and many others across the United States.

Cellist and composer Tomeka Reid was born in Washington D.C., though Chicago has adopted her as one of our own. After earning a bachelor's degree from University of Maryland, College Park, Reid earned a master's degree from DePaul University. She became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and has collaborated and recorded with several AACM members and associates including Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton. Her own ensemble, the Tomeka Reid Quartet, just released its debut album on Thirsty Ear Records.

Jessie Montgomery

New York native Jessie Montgomery studied violin at the Juilliard School before earning a degree in composition from New York Unviersity. She has been an active educator herself, particularly through her associations with the Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization that supports young African-American and Latino string players. She has collaborated with the American Composers Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Young People's Chorus of NY, and has been commissioned to create new works for the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

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19 African American composers to celebrate on Juneteenth (and every day of the year) | WFMT

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Though African Americans have not historically enjoyed the same rights and privileges as others, their contributions of music have been nothing short of history-changing. Here are 19 composers to help you celebrate Juneteenth, and which in turn deserve to be celebrated.

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The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera -Part 1

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The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera -Part 1

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Met Opera Podcast

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In this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, lecturer and music librarian Tanisha Mitchell talks about singers of the past and present who broke barriers, paved the way, and continue to carry the torch in "The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera." In this first part of the series, Tanisha focuses on male singers spanning the 19th, 20th, and 21st century, including George Shirley, Robert McFerrin, Vinson Cole, Simon Estes, Sir Willard White, Derek Lee Ragin, Eric Owens, Morris Robinson, Russell Thomas, and many more!

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Met Opera Guild Podcast - Ep. 157: The Enduring Legacy Of Black Singers in Opera, Part 1, with Tanisha Mitchell

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In this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, lecturer and music librarian Tanisha Mitchell talks about singers of the past and present who broke barriers, paved the way, and continue to carry the torch in "The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera."

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Website/Database: Living Black Composers, Links to Sites

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Music by Black Composers (MBC) is dedicated to helping to bring greater diversity to the ranks of classical music performers, composers, and audiences by making the music of Black composers available to everyone. MBC's Living Composers Directory is designed for those seeking to commission; for performers, conductors, and concert programmers seeking existing music; and for other researchers and scholars of contemporary classical music.

This directory is an on-going work in progress. Please let us know if you have additional information about these composers, or if you know (or are!) a composer who is not on this list and should be! editor@musicbyblackcomposers.org

If we've indicated anyone's gender identity incorrectly, please correct us! MBC is committed to accurately and respectfully recognizing transgender, non-binary, and other gender identities according to the wishes of the individuals listed here.

If you are on this list and would prefer not to be for any reason, please also let us know!
To use the directory, click the "+" sign next to a composer's name to reveal more useful information. Sort by column, or search for specific content using the search tool at the top. Check out our discography of music by Black composers "

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Living Composers Directory - Music by Black Composers

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Music by Black Composers (MBC) is dedicated to helping to bring greater diversity to the ranks of classical music performers, composers, and audiences by making the music of Black composers available to everyone. MBC's Living Composers Directory is designed for those seeking to commission; for performers, conductors, and concert programmers seeking existing music; and for other researchers and scholars of contemporary classical music.

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Harlem 100: Artists that Steered The Harlem Renaissance

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Harlem 100: Artists that Steered The Harlem Renaissance

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Website/Article: Info & Audio

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Harlem 100: Artists that Steered the Harlem Renaissance - Purdue Convocations

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The Harlem Renaissance introduced America to a new style of music, dance and a way of life. It represented expression for Civil Rights in America through the arts. Harlem 100 brings together Michael Mwenso and The Shakes, Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna

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The Los Angeles Renaissance, Harold Bruce Forsythe, and Cladius Wilson - Article From Journal of African American History

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The Los Angeles Renaissance, Harold Bruce Forsythe, and Cladius Wilson - Article From Journal of African American History

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https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/docview/194483871/fulltextPDF/8CFD260714924AC3PQ/1?accountid=14604

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8 Black Composers Who Changed Classical Music

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8 Black Composers Who Changed Classical Music

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Webpage: Composers/Musicians 1700-current, Info & Vid.

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Great composers who changed the course of classical music history. Picture: Getty

Scott Joplin, Florence Price, William Grant Still - the music of these brilliant composers has too long been neglected in Western classical music tradition.

In honour of Black History Month, which is marked in October in the UK, we are celebrating some of the most famous and influential Black composers in classical music history.

1. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 - 1799)

Historically dubbed, somewhat crudely, 'le Mozart noir' ('Black Mozart'), the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is remembered as the first classical composer of African origins.

Born to a wealthy plantation owner and his African slave, Saint-Georges was a prolific composer who wrote string quartets, symphonies and concertos in the late 18th century. He also led one of the best orchestras in Europe - Le Concert des Amateurs - and former US president John Adams judged him "the most accomplished man in Europe".

Mozart, who at the time of Saint-Georges' success was struggling to make his own music heard, envied him. There is a popular theory that Mozart, as well as swiping one of Saint-Georges' ideas in his Sinfonia Concertante, used his jealousy to fuel the creation of the villainous black character Monostatos, who appears in his opera The Magic Flute.

2. Florence Price (1887 - 1953)

Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra - in 1933. A music critic from the Chicago Daily News heard the work, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and declared it "a faultless work, a work that speaks its own message with restraint and yet with passion... worthy of a place in the regular symphonic repertoire."

Born in Arkansas in 1887, Price was a deeply religious person, and brought the music of the African-American church into her music - as well as influences from the likes of Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and other European Romantic composers. Hear some of her songs here and here, and the Concerto in One Movement here.

3. Scott Joplin (1868 - 1917)

Dubbed the 'King of Ragtime', Scott Joplin was one of the most important and influential composers at the turn of the 20th century. His ideas around harmony, as well as his complex bass patterns and sporadic syncopation, are still imitated by composers today.

Joplin's untimely death, caused by syphilis which descended into dementia, marked the end of ragtime and a sad lapse in interest around his music. But his compositions were rediscovered and rose to popularity again in the early 1970s, when Joshua Rifkin released an extremely successful album of his pieces. This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film The Sting that used several of Joplin's compositions, including 'The Entertainer' and 'Solace'.

Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag - but it's played WAY too fast

4. George Bridgetower (1778 - 1860)

George Bridgetower was an Afro-European virtuoso violinist and composer whose name you might recognise from Immortal Beloved. He is described in the film as 'the famous virtuoso from Africa' - but his father was probably from the West Indes.

In the scene, he plays Beethoven's 'Kreutzer' Violin Sonata No. 9, a piece that Beethoven formally dedicated to Bridgetower. The scene recounts their real-life falling-out, which culminated in Beethoven withdrawing his dedication over an off-colour remark Bridgetower made about a lady Beethoven knew. Outraged, Beethoven opted instead to name his sonata after Rodolphe Kreutzer, the great French violinist.

Bridgetower's name soon got lost in history, and he died in poverty in Peckham, his name forgotten. So next time you hear a performance of the Kreutzer Sonata, spare a thought for the man after whom it should really be named...

5. William Grant Still (1895 - 1978)

Still's career is a story of firsts: dubbed 'The Dean' of African-American composers, he was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have an opera produced by a major opera company (the New York City Opera), the first to have a symphony (his First Symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, and the first to have an opera performed on national TV.

Still composed more than 150 works in his lifetime, including five symphonies and eight operas, the most famous of which is his 'Afro-American' Symphony No. 1. He also found time to moonlight as an oboist, conductor and jazz arranger.

6. Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972)

Margaret Bonds was a 20th-century American composer, whose music married the sounds of African American spirituals with the structure of Western classical music. Perhaps her best-known setting is 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hand', which she arranged for soprano Leontyne Price in 1963. She also collaborated closely with the leading poet Langston Hughes, writing music that celebrated African American culture and values at the time of the Civil Right Movement.

Bonds also studied composition and piano in high school with Florence Price, who years later ensured that Bonds would become the first African American musician to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Price herself, had made history with the ensemble the year before, in 1933.

7. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912)

Referred to by white New York musicians as the 'African Mahler ', Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (not to be confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Romantic poet) fought against racial prejudice all his short life.

He skilfully married African-American folk music with concert music, composing pieces like his African Suite, African Romances and Twenty-Four Negro Melodies. He is particularly known for his three cantatas based on the epic poem, Song of Hiawatha.

Coleridge-Taylor was given a well-deserved foot in the door by Edward Elgar who recommended him to the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester, where his Ballade in A minor was eventually premiered. Elgar woke up to Taylor's talent thanks to August Jaeger, a highly influential music critic and editor of publisher Novello, who advised the composer that Taylor was 'a genius'.

8. George Walker (1922 - 2018)

Walker was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He received it for his work Lilacs in 1996.

But not only that; Walker was also the first black graduate of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 1945, the first black musician to play New York's Town Hall in the same year, the first black recipient of a doctorate from the Eastman School in 1955, and the first black faculty member to receive tenure at Smith College in 1961.

Walker died on 23 August 2018, and his most famous and performed work remains his Lyric for Strings (1946), a beautifully moving work for string orchestra. He also brought the Chevalier de Saint-Georges' legacy to our attention in 2010, honouring him in his Foils for Orchestra (Homage à Saint George).

9. Francis Johnson (1792-1844)

Francis 'Frank' Johnson was a celebrated and widely-published Philadelphia composer, known for being the first African American composer to have his works printed as sheet music.

He played the violin and keyed bugle, and wrote over 200 pieces - including Ethiopian songs, operatic airs and marches.

A contemporaneous account by Philadelphia resident, John Cromwell, remembers Johnson's influential work and pioneering brass band, which was "the leading military band at all the famous parades and fashionable functions."

10. Wynton Marsalis (born 1961)

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is one of the biggest stars in jazz, but his inventive and infectious jazz, gospel and spiritual-infused compositions have become some of the most important new works to hit classical concert halls.

In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music with his oratorio Blood on the Fields.

And it's his violin concerto, a work composed for violinist Nicola Benedetti, that's been making waves in 2019. Nicola has been championing this work around the world and with a recently released recording. She recently came to Classic FM and told us all about the concerto's extraordinary first movement.

Wynton Marsalis shares some tips for maintaining focus

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10 Black composers who changed the course of classical music history

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In honour of Black History Month, we are celebrating some of the most famous and influential Black composers in classical music history.

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Webisite/Database: Info & Lists of Musicians

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An Archive for Virtual Harlem: Music from the Harlem Renaissance

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The music of the Harlem Renaissance has its roots in jazz. Jazz is considered a musical language of communication and was the first indigenous American style to affect music in the rest of the ...

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The Unknown Career of Shirley Graham - Article From Freedomways (V85 I1 P8)

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The Unknown Career of Shirley Graham - Article From Freedomways (V85 I1 P8)

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https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=IBJBJF1985-01&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1

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The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera -Part 2

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The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera -Part 2

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Met Opera Podcast

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In this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we explore the incredible legacy of women who broke barriers for black artists, dating all the way back to the late 1800s! Tune in as lecturer and music librarian Tanisha Mitchell explores the trailblazers, sprinters, and torch-bearing women who are part of the enduring legacy of black singers in opera.

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Met Opera Guild Podcast - Ep. 158: The Enduring Legacy Of Black Singers in Opera, Part 2, with Tanisha Mitchell

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In this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we explore the incredible legacy of women who broke barriers for black artists, dating all the way back to the late 1800s! Tune in as lecturer and music librarian Tanisha Mitchell explores the trailblazers, sprinters, and torch-bearing women who are part of the enduring legacy of black singers in opera.

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Joseph Boulogne - The Black Mozart - Article From Journal of Black Studies

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Joseph Boulogne - The Black Mozart - Article From Journal of Black Studies

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https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/doi/10.1177/0021934719892239

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7 Black Opera Singers Who Are Currently Dominating The Game

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7 Black Opera Singers Who Are Currently Dominating The Game

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Blog: Contemporary, Info/Pics

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February is Black History Month and you better believe there is no shortage of Black individuals who have changed opera for the better. Last year, we rounded up six Black opera singers that changed the landscape of the art itself, so this year we're spotlighting Black singers that are currently killing the opera game. And did we mention that they've all sang at LAO before? You can even catch a few of them in our upcoming production of The Clemency of Titus. Take a closer look below.

When you hear the words "killing the game," mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges is an obvious name that comes to mind. Last seen at LA Opera in Philip Glass's Satyagraha, Bridges chose to pursue music over basketball. Bridges earned a Master of Music from Curtis Institute of Music after graduating from Manhattan School of Music. In 2015, Bridges premiered the role of Carmen in the new opera Bel Canto with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her next big thing? Making her staged-role debut in Carmen at San Francisco Opera this summer.

Russell Thomas is thattenor; a voice as smooth as velvet but so powerful you'd think he was amplified. Last here in our 2016/17 season as Cavaradossi in Tosca, Thomas wowed audiences. He'll be gracing our stage once again this season in the title role of Mozart's The Clemency of Titus. With such raw talent, one would think that opera was Thomas's first choice of career; but in fact, Thomas didn't pursue opera until he was eighteen years old at the urging of his music teacher. He has since performed at The Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Royal Opera House, amongst others. After The Clemency of Titus, Thomas will make his role debut as Othello in Othello at Canadian Opera Company.

We have a special place in our hearts for Brugger because she is an alumna of our Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. But, Brugger has been wowing opera audiences for years. Brugger won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2012. In the same year, she won the zarzuela prize and the "Prize of the Public" at Operalia, The World Opera Competition. Brugger has appeared on our stage multiple times, most recently in The Magic Fluteas Pamina. She'll be singing Servilia in our production of The Clemency of Titus, opening in March.

Lawrence Brownlee attended Anderson University in Indiana for his undergraduate degree and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for graduate studies. He went on to become a member of Young Artist programs at Seattle Opera and the Wolf Trap Opera Company. His prolific opera career includes several astounding roles, most notably, the famously challenging role of Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment, which includes an aria that requires no fewer than nine high Cs (talk about a vocal Olympics!) His signature role is that of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. He has performed the role at The Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Madrid's Teatro Real just to name a few. Brownlee last graced our stage alongside Brugger in our production of The Magic Flute. Catch him back in Los Angeles at the LA Philharmonic in March.

Yende last graced our stage in 2015 in The Marriage of Figaro. Yende, a soprano, studied voice at both South African College of Music and Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Italy. In 2009, Yende won first prize in operetta and opera at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition and in 2010 she won the first prize at the Vincenzo Bellini International Competition and the Leyla Gencer Voice Competition. She also won the first prize at Operalia in 2011. She is currently singing the role of Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment at The Metropolitan Opera.

John Holiday possess one of the rarest voice types: countertenor. Holiday last rocked our stage back in 2014 in Dido and Aeneas.He'll be back in Los Angeles for our 2019/20 season in the world premiere of Eurydice. Holiday was first exposed to opera in the late '90s after seeing mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves at the Houston Symphony. He made the decision to pursue a career in the art, eventually graduating from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and moving into the Apprentice Program at Santa Fe Opera. Holiday has performed at Portland Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera to name a few. Before next year's Eurydice, Holiday will be performing a recital at The Dallas Opera in March.

No list of opera stars is complete without bass Morris Robinson. A frequent figure on our stage(Abduction from the Seraglio, Rigoletto, Don Carlo and many more), Robinson routinely refers to himself as an accidental opera singer. During his university years, he bypassed music scholarships to pursue a college football career. After graduation, he began working at a Fortune 500 company. It wasn't until he was 30 that he pursued a professional music career, auditioning for the chorus at Boston Lyric Opera. He instead was handed a solo role. The rest -as they say- is history. Robinson is an opera staple and if you haven't seen him perform yet, do so ASAP. He'll be back in Los Angeles at the LA Phil in May.

Okay sure, we're showing a bit of favoritism here, but mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven has been knocking out every role she's performed here at LA Opera. Last seen on our stage in Hansel and Gretel, Raven joined our Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2017/18 season. She made her house debut as Vanderdendur in Candide.Prior to joining our Young Artist Program, Raven won both the Adelaide Bishop Award with Central City Opera and First Place in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition in 2015 and received the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in 2017. She earned her Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder and was a Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in the 2016/17 season. If you've missed her in previous seasons, you can catch this rising star alongside Russell Thomas and Janai Brugger in March's The Clemency of Titus.
Click here for more information or to purchase tickets to The Clemency of Titus.

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Seven Black Opera Singers Who Are Currently Dominating The Game | LA Opera

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February is Black History Month and you better believe there is no shortage of Black individuals who have changed opera for the better. Last year, we rounded up six Black opera singers that changed the landscape of the art itself, so this year we're spotlighting Black singers that are currently killing the opera game.

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Karen Slack - Soprano - Behind The Voice 

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Karen Slack - Soprano - Behind The Voice 

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Video: Interview/ an Francisco Opera

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Video: ADA Artists Management

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"Es gibt en reich" from Ariadne auf Naxos - Karen Slack, Soprano

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Lawrence Brownlee - The Sitdown with LB 

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Lawrence Brownlee - The Sitdown with LB 

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Video: Interview/Audio w/Angel Blue

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'The Sitdown with LB' with special guest, Angel Blue

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Database: Alexander Street, Audio by Genre
https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/amso

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Leontyne Price - "Un Bel Di" Madame Butterfly

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Leontyne Price - "Un Bel Di" Madame Butterfly

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Video: Audio/ Vaimusic

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Video: Kennedy Center Honors 1980

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Leontyne Price - Kennedy Center Honors, 1980

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Website/Database: Classical-Contemporary

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Home
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AfriClassical Blog
Companion to AfriClassical.com

Black History Quiz
(52 questions on 3 levels of difficulty)

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William J. Zick, Webmaster, wzick@ameritech.net

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William J. Zick
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African Heritage in Classical Music

Here you will meet 52 composers, conductors and instrumental performers - Africans, African Americans and Afro-Europeans. Many are alive today, but one lived 500 years ago! These artists are unknown to most of us, yet are so numerous this site can present only a fraction of them. They have made enduring contributions to Classical Music. Several have composed, conducted and performed Classical Music. Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) of Guadeloupe is one of those multi-talented musicians. Cuban classical guitarist Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) is another. Over 100 sound samples can be heard at the Audio page and at the biographical pages. The links at left lead to a Black History Quiz covering everyone profiled at the site and a Guest Book in which you are invited to leave your comments.

AfriClassical Blogis a near-daily companion tothewebsite, AfriClassical.com. A blog post which refers to many Black composers is: Dominique-René de Lerma: Scholar of Black Classical Music for 40 Years. It is an extended interview with Dominique-René de Lerma, a Professor of Music at Lawrence University Conservatory. He is a Musicologist who has specialized in Black Classical Composers and Musicians for four decades. His research material on the lives of composers and musicians, along with his comprehensive Works Lists and Bibliographies, which often run to hundreds of entries, are the heart of this website. In the interview Prof. De Lerma recounts many of his interactions with students who have profited from his wisdom and support. Visit the blog often to learn of current issues involving Composers and Musicians of African Descent!

Listen toAfriClassical recognition on BBC Radio, January 26, 2019

Listen to an interview of Webmaster Bill Zick onWWFM A Tempo, March 2, 2013.

Arion 68093 (1990) Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges

(2001) Girma Yifrashewa

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his Musicians of African Descent Bridgetower Sonata to display the talents of a violin virtuoso, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower. Before the work was published, the two had a falling out and the work was renamed the Kreutzer Sonata! Girma Yifrashewa saw a piano for the first time at age 16, yet he became the first Ethiopian classical pianist to tour widely in Africa. Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was a musical genius born into slavery in 1849, blind and autistic. Nearly all of his enormous earnings went to slave owners, and later to guardians, even after Emancipation.

John Blanke (Copyright BBC)

The Black trumpeter John Blanke served England's Kings Henry VII & VIII. A tapestry shows him performing in 1511. Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship near West Africa, and was soon orphaned. He was raised as a house slave in England but escaped at age 20. Before long he was a composer, anti-slavery activist and author of Black History and Classical Music A Theory of Music. A Black History Quiz includes interesting facts on all 52 composers and musicians.

This page was last updated on February 23, 2020

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instrumental performers of african descent

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AfriClassical - African Heritage in Classical Music

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Welcome to AfriClassical.com! This page is an overview of Black Classical Composers and Musicians. It leads to profiles on over 50 composers and musicians, as well as a Black History page, a Black History Quiz and a page of brief Audio Samples. We hope you will enjoy your visit and find the information you need.

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Database: Recordings by Black Composers

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Clough, Francis F., and G.J. Cuming. The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. London: Sidgwick & Jackson Limited, 1966.

de Lerma, Dominique-Rene______. Concert Music and Spirituals: A Selective Discography. Nashville, Tenn.: Fisk University, Institute for Research in Black American Music, 1981.

Greene, Richard. Black Classical Music Composers: a Comprehensive Discography of Recordings Available on Compact Disc. [Ardmore, Pa.: s.n.], 1998.

Horne, Aaron. Brass Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.

_________. Keyboard Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1992.

_________. String Music of Black composers: A Bibliography. Wesport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1991.

_________. Woodwind Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990.

Kimberlein, Cynthia Tse and Akin Euba. Towards an African Pianism: keyboard music of Africa and the Diaspora. Point Richmond, CA : MRI Press, 2005.

Nyaho, William C., ed. Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora. New York: Oxford U. Press, 2007-2008.

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Research Guides: Black Composers in Classical Music: Find Recordings

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Clough, Francis F., and G.J. Cuming. The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. London: Sidgwick & Jackson Limited, 1966. de Lerma, Dominique-Rene______. Concert Music and Spirituals: A Selective Discography. Nashville, Tenn.: Fisk University, Institute for Research in Black American Music, 1981. Greene, Richard. Black Classical Music Composers: a Comprehensive Discography of Recordings Available on Compact Disc.

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Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers

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Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers

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eBook - Bill Banfield
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/lib/uncg/reader.action?docID=1565722

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eBook - Naomi Adele Andre
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.uncg.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE1OTU3OThfX0FO0?sid=f37ed310-0c08-4834-8881-5e92bc9fef7d@sessionmgr4007&vid=0&format=EB&rid=1

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Database: Alexander Street

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Music Online: African American Music Reference | Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company

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Search streaming video, audio, and text content for academic, public, and K-12 institutions. Alexander Street is an imprint of ProQuest that promotes teaching, research, and learning across music, counseling, history, anthropology, drama, film, and more.