Celebrating Black female composers

Florence Price

Back in 1933, Florence Price became the first African American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra, rewarding years of work with a watershed moment.

Florence seemed destined for a career in music after displaying considerable musical potential from an early age. She pursued formal music education, specialising in piano and organ at the New England Conservatory of Music.

After graduating with honours, she became head of the music department at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas and then Chicago. Her composing skills flourished in this time, and it was in 1933 that she wrote Ticklin’ Toes, a piece that sits on our Grade 4 Piano syllabus.

You can listen to the talented Izzy performing this endearing piece below.

Despite being a shy individual, she actively fought for women's place in music and drew on influences from both sides of her heritage (she was mixed race) in her compositions. In 1943 Florence wrote a letter to the conductor of the Boston Symphony, Dr Koussevitsky, challenging him to put aside his bias and judge her compositions based purely on their quality. 

She overcame stigma as a divorced Black woman to raise her two children, facing financial difficulties along the way. It wasn’t until after her 47th birthday that her first major work was premiered, but her legacy as a remarkable woman and a fantastic musician remains unshakeable to this day.

Valerie Capers

Valerie Capers has never let any potential obstacles impede her musical journey. She grew up in New York City, surrounded by music, before attending the prestigious Juilliard School of Music where she graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical composition and performance, the first blind person to do so from Juilliard.

Her early grounding in classical music meant she had the technical fluency and musical sensitivity to take to jazz with ease. This is evident in her compositions, particularly the moving Billie’s Song, Capers’ ode to Billie Holiday, another inspiring Black woman who was an astounding musician. At Grade 4, this piece is not the most technically challenging, but does require a degree of maturity and control to expressively tease out the emotion behind this piece.

Valerie continues to perform to this day, playing across her native New York and internationally. A well-respected educator, she holds honorary doctorates from multiple institutions, and continues to pass her wealth of musical knowledge and expertise onto the next generation of artists.

Isata Kanneh-Mason

Isata Kanneh-Mason is a pianist and composer who has the world at her feet.

Her work as a performer is well-documented: she has delighted audiences around the world at prestigious concert venues like the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie Berlin, National Concert Hall Dublin, Perth Concert Hall and beyond. Her innate musicality combined with a tireless commitment to precision means her performances are always unforgettable.

We have had the privilege of working closely with Isata during her curation of Piano Inspiration, a series of repertoire books for intermediate and advanced pianists. Isata is also an accomplished composer and her piece, Waltz, appears in the Piano Inspiration Book 1. Performed by Isata in the video above, she wrote this beautiful yet melancholic piece while travelling in the United State, often alone. It features a haunting melody that glides across a left-hand accompaniment.

Althea Talbot-Howard

Althea Talbot-Howard is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Nigeria, she spent her childhood in England and Australia before becoming a choral and instrumental scholar at the University of Cambridge. Here, she studied Archaeology & Anthropology before undertaking postgraduate studies in oboe at the Royal Academy of Music and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. She won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship as well as a placement on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme.

Althea started her professional career in 1992, performing as an oboe concerto soloist, recitalist and orchestral guest principal until 2017, when she formally retired from Oboe performance, owing to a left-hand injury.

We have worked closely with Althea on a number of projects, including her recent blog on the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and she has also arranged pieces for our syllabuses. Enjoy her performance of Menuetto below!

There are so many Black female voices throughout history who influence today's music. Who is your favourite Black woman in music?

Thank you for reading! Read more of our Black History Month blogs here.