6 Black Artists Who Changed Classical Music
There is a large catalog of talented Black artists who have left lasting impacts on the world of classical music but are overlooked because of their race. We have composed a list of 6 Black Composers and Musicians who influenced and helped shape the orchestral world. Which Black artist would you like to hear their music being performed live today?
Florence Price
1. Florence Price, composer (1887-1953)
Florence Price was born to a music teacher mother, who instilled a love of music in Florence from an early age. At the age of 4, she had her first piano performance, and at 11, her first composition was published. Unsurprisingly, she graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Boston with honors, receiving a teaching certificate and an artist diploma in organ. As a teacher, she influenced many upcoming Black musicians and composers, and received the honor of being the first Black woman to have her composition played by a major U.S orchestra, with Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing her Symphony No. 1 in 1933. The Modesto Symphony Orchestra had the honor of performing her Concert Overture No. 2 in October 2022 and Symphony No. 3 in May 2023.
William L. Dawson
2. William L. Dawson, composer
(1899-1990)
Dawson was a skilled trombonist as a child, and ran away from home as a teenager to pursue a career in music at Tuskgee Institute (now know as Tuskgee University). After graduating with honors, he would go on to receive a master's in composition from the American Conservatory of Music. He would start his career by teaching at Tuskgee, and directing the 100-member choir, recognized internationally and sponsored by the White House. Last February 2024, the Modesto Symphony Orchestra performed his most famous composition: Negro Folk Symphony. It premiered in 1934 by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and masterfully showed the evolution of American Classical music by incorporating elements of Black culture, blending them masterfully with classical forms.
Chevalier de Saint-Georges
3. Joseph Bologne - Chevalier de Saint-Georges, composer (1745-1799)
Not much is known about the Chevalier’s early music education, other than at the age of 7, he was sent to Paris for his musical studies. He would debut as a solo violinist in one of Europe’s most renowned orchestras, Le Concert des Amateurs, playing two of his own violin concertos. He was appointed the next conductor of the orchestra, only furthering its renown and reputation across the globe. An accomplished composition writer, performer, fencer, and socialite, it is no surprise that president John Adams is quoted in saying “he is the most accomplished man in Europe”.
The 2022 biographical drama film, Chevalier, is based on his legendary life.
George Walker
4. George Walker, composer, organist and pianist (1922-2018)
George Walker has the distinction of being the first Black composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work, Lilacs in 1996. During his education at Curtis Institute of Music, he studied under many great classical performers and teachers, including Rudolf Serkin, Gregor Piatigorsky, and William Primrose. Perhaps this period, including his own experiences growing up around jazz, contributed to his unique composition style, where he did not tie himself down to one label or genre. Over his lifetime, he composed well over 90 different works, and received commission requests from the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others.
Marian Anderson
5. Marian Anderson, contralto (1897-1993)
Marian Anderson was an important figurehead not only in the opera community, but the civil rights movement in its entirety. Not to be discouraged by the roadblocks that would try and prevent her from a career in singing, she received her first spotlight in a singing competition with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 25, which propelled her onto singing tours across Europe and the United States. After initially being denied to sing at a concert in Washington D.C in 1939, by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Anderson was put into the international spotlight, which was not the norm for a female Black musician. After receiving presidential support from Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor, Anderson would perform an open-air concert on Easter Sunday, 1939 to an integrated crowd of 75,000 people, and a radio audience of millions.
Marian was invited by the MSO in 1956 to perform a recital at the historic Strand Theater (where Brenden Theaters now resides in Downtown Modesto). The audience was at full capacity and according to Pat Morrison of the Modesto Bee, “Her direct and reverent style, deep in feeling and calm in confidence lends a spiritual tone to her voice. To hear Marian Anderson is more than a musical experience.”
Duke Ellington
6. Duke Ellington, pianist and composer (1899-1974)
Duke Ellington spent most of his early musical years writing one-off compositions while working other jobs. For example, his first composition, entirely written by ear was the “Soda Jerk Rag” at the age of 15. Around 1919, however, Ellington was encouraged by artists around him to pursue his musical career. Finding success as a piano player, Ellington formed his own group that would play around Virginia and Washington D.C. He would gain national recognition, however, in the1920s, with his orchestra’s feature in the Cotton Club at Harlem. He would conduct his jazz orchestra until his last days and received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1999. More recently, you may have heard the MSO perform the Duke Ellington Fantasy arranged by Leroy Anderson at their Great American Songbook concert in March 2023.
To learn more about Black excellence in music, we encourage you to check out the sources below!
Sources:https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2021/december.htmhttps://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/black-composers-who-made-classical-music-history/https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen/the-legacy-of-henry-lewishttps://www.carnegiehall.org/About/History/Carnegie-Hall-Icons/Marian-Anderson
