Celebrating historical women composers

Dr. Samantha Ege has released an album of piano music by five trailblazing early twentieth-century African American female composers. The album is called Black Renaissance Woman: Piano Music by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Nora Holt, Betty Jackson King, and Helen Hagan (LORELT). Please see https://music.web.ox.ac.uk/article/dr-samantha-ege-releases-third-album-celebrating-historical-women-composers? and https://www.samanthaege.com/

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George Walker and Latonia Moore

Sunday July 24, 2022 WCRB classical 99.5 Tanglewood Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcast included composer William Grant Still’s “In Memoriam, The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy” and soprano Latonia Moore singing composer George Walker’s Pulitzer Prize “Lilac” (text by Walt Whitman). I was a close friend of George Walker and current friend of Latonia Moore.…

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Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert reports

January 8, 2022 I attended a wonderful Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena that included  a short piece, “STRUM”, composed by composer of African descent Jessie Montgomery. The LACO orchestra did not include any recognizable players of  African descent. March 19, 2022 I attended a wonderful Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert at…

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Meet the Composer: Derrick Skye

Sunday March 6, 2022 at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles the Afro-American Chamber Orchestra Music Society, under baton of dynamic Vince Womack, performed an abbreviated version of “Lift Every Voice & Sing”, “Rumpelstiltskin”-Fairy Tale Symphony, Movement III by pianist/composers Philippa Duke Schuyler and William Grant Still “Sunday Symphony No. 3” during first half. The…

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Lara Downes Women’s History Month

Wednesday March 2, 2022 while listening to KUSC classical radio station 91.5 FM, temporary host Lara Downes (weeknights 8:00 PM to midnight) programmed “Three Spirituals” by Adolphus Hailstork (Naxos Records). I am a friend of both composer Adolphus Hailstork and pianist/radio host Laura Downes. Lara’s many and assorted projects to perform, record, and heighten awareness…

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Violinist Annelle Kazumi Gregory with the Kiev Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra

  Violinist Annelle Kazumi Gregory is the Long Beach Central Area Association/MusicUNTOLD most promoted artist over the past 10 years. See Annelle’s performance with the  Kiev Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra, Great Hall, National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETtEQp3r28c and pic of John Malveaux, president of Long Beach Central Area Association/MusicUNTOLD and violinist Annelle Kazumi Gregory

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Library of Congress

American composer Roy Harris’ last completed symphony, “Bicentennial Symphony” (13th), premiered February 10, 11, 12 at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Murry Sidlin to celebrate the 200th birthday of our nation. Original text in the choral symphony, “stand firm against the White Man’s shame, they buy slave’s…

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Dr. Dawn Norfleet and Ben Cadwallader

January 29, 2022, prior to performance of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert “Montgomery, Mozart, R Strauss” at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, I briefly chatted with musician, educator, composer Dr. Dawn Norfleet and Ben Cadwallader, executive director of LACO, about diversity in classical music. See pic from right Ben Cadwallader, Dr. Norfleet, and John Malveaux.…

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William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony

American composer William Levi Dawson was a treasured friend and I consider his Negro Folk Symphony a neglected masterpiece. Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony will be performed with other masterpieces by Bernstein and Beethoven Jan 8 & 9, 2022 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. See https://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/tickets-and-events/buy-tickets/cso/2122-cso-season/dawson-beethoven-bernstein/ Additionally, the CSO  will perform a newly composed score to accompany…

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Pianist/Composer Karen Walwyn

Saturday Dec 11, 2021 heartful reunion with pianist/composer Karen Walwyn following her performance of Florence Price’s CONCERTO IN ONE MOVEMENT performed and video documented for posterity by the San Bernardino Symphony under the exactful baton of Anthony Parnther to conclude the 1st half of the program. The program opened with Richard Strauss’ DON JUAN and…

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Pianist Althea Waites, violist/composer Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama and presenter John Malveaux at Walt Disney Concert Hall

On Sept 22, 2012 MusicUNTOLD, KUSC Classical Radio and the Colburn Foundation presented a concert celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION at the AT&T Center Theatre downtown Los Angeles. The concert included solo and duet performances by violinist Sanford Allen (who became the 1st African American violinist hired by the New York Philharmonic…

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Margaret Rosezarian Harris, 1st female African American to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic

I learned composer William Grant Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic July 23, 1936 many years ago.  However, I  only learned on Dec 5, 2021 from a Facebook post by Joshua Cheek that Margaret Rosezarian Harris was the 1st female African American to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic. However, I am not surprised that the historical event…

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REEL CHANGE: KRIS BOWERS concert presented by Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Saturday Nov 20, 2021 attended unprecedented and historically significant REEL CHANGE: KRIS BOWERS concert presented by Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall conducted by Anthony Parnther. The program, curated by young KRIS BOWERS, included the world premiere of his CONCERTO FOR HORN featuring Andrew Bain. The pre concert talk hosted by Renae…

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Long Beach Camerata Singers at Jordan High School “PEACE PROJECT V: RECONCILIATION”

Sunday Nov 14, 2021 Long Beach Camerata Singers at Jordan High School program titled “PEACE PROJECT V: RECONCILIATION,” celebrating music as a force for understanding featured the world premiere of “TESTIMONY’ by composer Richard Danielpour with text from Rita Dove conducted by Dr. James K. Bass. Composer Danielpour and choral director Bass previously won a…

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