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abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 10:33 AM Nov 2020

From Al Jazeera: Florence Price: The story of America's forgotten musical genius (...)

"She was the first Black woman to have her music played by a major orchestra in the US, so why has she been overlooked?"

from article: It was a summer’s day in June 1933, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was tuning up. A strange sound filtered from the podium, harmonious and ear piercing in equal measure. The audience shifted and muttered in anticipation. Among them sat 46-year-old Florence Price, whose Symphony No 1 in E Minor was about to have its orchestral debut.

snip

Florence was on the cusp of making history. This was the night she would become the first Black woman to have her music performed by an orchestra of this calibre.

Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was already one of the “big five” orchestras in the United States, and frequently ranked among the best in the world. Although Black, English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor dubbed “the Black Mahler” for his compositional ability, had had his music performed on this scale, never before had a Black woman been in this position.

And Florence was not the only “first” in the room. Her former student and family friend, 20-year-old Margaret Bonds, would perform a concertino for piano and orchestra, becoming the first Black female soloist to play as a guest with the Chicago orchestra.

MUCH more at link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/28/florence-price-americas-lost-musical-genius

I really appreciate the content I find on Al Jazeera. They provide none of the dreaded
"register to continue reading" found on, say, the Guardian site.

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From Al Jazeera: Florence Price: The story of America's forgotten musical genius (...) (Original Post) abqtommy Nov 2020 OP
I looked for a connection Cirque du So-What Nov 2020 #1
k/r abqtommy Nov 2020 #2
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