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Colour of Music Festival Honors Pioneering Black Female Composer Florence

CHARLESTON CHRONICLE — Since 2013 the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents.

Published

5 years ago

March 7, 2019

Oakland Post

By The Charleston Chronicle

The Colour of Music Festival announces the seventh annual Colour of Music Festival March 27-30, 2019 at three historic locations in the heart of downtown Charleston showcasing leading black classical artists from France, Britain, Colombia, and the Caribbean and highlighting the musical achievements of lesser known black female composers including Florence B. Price.

Since 2013 the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of

African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to Charleston. Since March 2018 the Festival has also traveled across the U.S. to leading collegiate venues and performance halls in Washington DC, Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh, and Richmond.

Spring 2019 Colour of Music Festival Highlights

A spotlight on black female composers including pioneer Florence B. Price is a fitting theme for National Women’s History Month and an auspicious evolution of the Festival’s commitment to ensure black female classical performers are both elevated and included in the classical music canon and live performances.

“Honoring Florence B. Price among other women of color who have contributed significant works but whose compositions are rarely programmed and heard by major American orchestras is classical music’s last glass ceiling which also includes scant percentages of black female conductors and music directors,” said Lee Pringle, Founder and President of the Colour of Music Festival.

Several of Price’s chamber setting works written in 1944 including her Negro Five Folksongs in Counterpoint and String Quartet in G Major will be performed as part of the Festival’s intimate Chamber Music presentations taking place at the Edmondston-Alston House Museum Salon, 21 East Bay Street, Murry Center Salon, 14 George Street, and Burk High Performance Arts Center, 244 President Street in historic downtown Charleston.

Composer Florence B. Price

Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953) was the first African-American female composer to have a symphonic composition performed by a major American orchestra and is considered the first black woman in the U.S. to be recognized as a symphonic composer. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony in E Minor in 1933 under the direction of Frederick Stock.

Florence B. Price

Price struggled to make headway in a culture that defined composers as white, male, and dead. Only in the past couple of decades have Price’s major works begun to receive recordings and performances, and these are still infrequent. Though widely cited as one of the first African-American classical composers to win national attention, she is mentioned more often than heard. Not only did Price fail to enter the canon, a large quantity of her music came perilously close to obliteration until an Illinois couple found her compositions in a run-down house they were about to renovate—a potent symbol of how a country can forget its cultural history.

“The late Margret Bonds, a student of Ms. Price and many living composers including Dominique Le Gendre and Nkeiru N. Okoye, have been presented at the Festival—our spotlight on women as part of National Women’s Month in March makes this year’s festival very special,” said Lee Pringle, President and Artistic Director of the Colour of Music Festival.

More about Black Female Composers in History

Calendar of Events | Colour of Music Festival March 27-30, 2019

Wednesday, March 27

Piano Recital, Karen Walwyn, pianist • 2 p.m.

Chamber Music I

Colour of Music Virtuosi (all-female chamber orchestra) • 7 p.m.

Anyango Yarbo-Davenport, conductor and soloist

Thursday, March 28

Symposium: Florence B Price Legacy • 2 p.m.

Louse Toppin, Ph.D. presenter

Chamber Music II: Florence B. Price Spotlight • 7 p.m.

Negro Five Folksongs in Counterpoint

Friday, March 29

Vocal Recital, Louise Toppin • 2 p.m.

Chamber Music III: Florence B. Price Spotlight • 7 p.m.

String Quartet in G Major

Saturday, March 30

Organ Recital, Eldred Marshall, organist • 12 p.m.

Masterworks: Florence B. Price Showcase • 7 p.m.

Piano Concerto in D Minor in One Movement

Chelsea Tipton II, conductor; Karen Walwyn, piano

Colour of Music Festival Tickets and Information

By phone (866) 811-4111

Online: www.colourofmusic.org

At door: (credit card, cash or check) before each performance

Tickets $15-$45; special K-12 pricing for student groups of 10 or more

This article originally appeared in the Charleston Chronicle.

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Activism

S.F. Black Leaders Rally to Protest, Discuss ‘Epidemic’ of Racial Slurs Against Black Students in SF Public School System

Parents at the meeting spoke of their children as no longer feeling safe in school because of bullying and discrimination. Parents also said that reported incidents such as racial slurs and intimidation are not dealt with to their satisfaction and feel ignored.

Published

8 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church. Photo courtesy Third Baptist Church.

By Carla Thomas

San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church hosted a rally and meeting Sunday to discuss hatred toward African American students of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church, along with leadership from local civil rights groups, the city’s faith-based community and Black community leadership convened at the church.

“There has been an epidemic of racial slurs and mistreatment of Black children in our public schools in the city,” said Brown. “This will not be tolerated.”

According to civil rights advocate Mattie Scott, students from elementary to high school have reported an extraordinary amount of racial slurs directed at them.

“There is a surge of overt racism in the schools, and our children should not be subjected to this,” said Scott. “Students are in school to learn, develop, and grow, not be hated on,” said Scott. “The parents of the children feel they have not received the support necessary to protect their children.”

Attendees were briefed last Friday in a meeting with SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne.

SFUSD states that their policies protect children and they are not at liberty to publicly discuss the issues to protect the children’s privacy.

Some parents said they have removed their students from school while other parents and community leaders called on the removal of the SFUSD superintendent, the firing of certain school principals and the need for more supportive school board members.

Community advocates discussed boycotting the schools and creating Freedom Schools led by Black leaders and educators, reassuring parents that their child’s wellbeing and education are the highest priority and youth are not to be disrupted by racism or policies that don’t support them.

Virginia Marshall, chair of the San Francisco NAACP’s education committee, offered encouragement to the parents and students in attendance while also announcing an upcoming May 14 school board meeting to demand accountability over their mistreatment.

“I’m urging anyone that cares about our students to pack the May 14 school board meeting,” said Marshall.

This resource was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library via California Black Media as part of the Stop the Hate Program. The program is supported by partnership with California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.