WTJU Feb 12th, 2021 | By Ralph Graves
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 week of #BlackHistoryMonth for #ClassicsaDay.
02/08/21 Florence Price – Ethiopia’s Shadow in America (1932)
According to Price, the work’s three movements portray the Negro arriving in America as a slave, his resignation and faith, and finally his adaptation, fusing his native and acquired cultures.
Boston musicians on the Black composers to hear now
By A.Z. Madonna Globe Staff,Updated February 11, 2021, 12:41 p.m.
Email to a Friend
Clockwise from upper left: Composers Florence Price, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Ignatius Sancho, Scott Joplin, and Twinkie Clark.Boston Globe composite
Last summer, as Black Lives Matter protests heated up the streets, it seemed like every American orchestra sent out press releases condemning racism â even those who regularly go multiple seasons without programming work by a single Black composer. With bewigged maestros occupying so many plinths in the pantheon of the Western classical canon, Black composers have long been treated as an afterthought or novelty by much of the concert-music world. But recently, a new wave of ensembles (and listeners) has begun to explore this music in earnest, treating it with the gravitas it has always deserved. Four local Black musicians with roots in the classical tradition spoke with the Globe about composers
Black History Month featured in Chicago Symphony s streaming lineup chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Augustin Hadelich. Photo: Luca Valentina
It takes a lot more fortitude to pull off the Sibelius Violin Concerto in concert than on record. I admired Augustin Hadelich’s 2014 recording for its detail, cleanliness of tone and cool emotional insight. His performance in Copenhagen with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was similarly prepared – scrupulous in its following of the composer’s tempo markings – but lacked the power and lyricism needed at climactic moments.
Unperturbed by a consistent whining noise that invaded the DR Concert Hall, Hadelich found an intriguing way to convey a sense of building stamina in the slow movement, using articulation rather than heft and volume. For once, the piece was taken at a true Adagio di molto by conductor Manfred Honeck. That sort of narrative articulation was a little less forthcoming in the finale, on which Hadelich couldn’t quite stamp his authority.
12 classical music performances to stir and soothe winter of our discontent
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
Even though the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on musical organizations everywhere, artists have dug deeper to find ways to connect with audiences. Portland is fortunate to have excellent online options that will broadcast familiar and new works, including the dozen mentioned here.
- Portland Opera s 2020/21 Resident Artists (from left) Michael Parham, Lynnesha Crump, David Morgans Sanchez, Edwin Jhamal Davis, and Jasmine Johnson.Photo by Gia Goodrich
Resident Artist Series – Portland Opera
It is always fun to hear some of the best up-and-coming singers before they are discovered by everyone else. Portland Opera’s Resident Artist Program has an excellent record of finding such talent. This year’s crop will be beamed live from the Hampton Opera Center in three programs of solos, duets, and ensemble numbers accompanied by coach and pianist Joseph Williams. The first program