Duke Music's "distinction outside the major" provides an opportunity to connect passions
In 1933, the Chicago Symphony premiered composer Florence Price’s award-winning Symphony No. 1. It was a milestone in performance history, making Price the first African-American woman to have a large-scale work presented by a major U.S. orchestra. Although she continued to compose until her death in 1953, many of Price’s subsequent pieces were performed by “women’s symphonies,” all-female ensembles that filled a niche separate from the male space of top professional orchestras.
Source: duke.edu