#ClassicsaDay #WeWriteSymphonies Annotated List - Week 3

I'm a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay feed on Twitter. At a speech in Poland on 7/6/17, the President said, "The world has never known anything like our community of nations. We write symphonies." The next day #WeWriteSymphonies appeared on Twitter, citing all the non-Western -- and non-white -- composers who do indeed write symphonies.

To celebrate composers of color, I used both hashtags in my feed for the month of September. Below is an annotated list for the third week of posts.

Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940 - )

Dorothy Moore is one of the many American composers who studied with Nadia Boulanger. She is one of the co-founders of the Society of Black Composers. Her opera "Frederick Douglass" premiered in New York City in 1985.

Julia Perry (1924-1979)

Perry studied with Luigi Dallpiccola in the 1940s and won a Guggenheim Fellowship. She also studied with Nadia Boulanger and spent several years working in Europe. Her compositions incorporate African-American folk music traditions into an adventurous neo-romantic style. Her catalog includes 12 symphonies.

Jeffrey Mumford (1955 - )

Mumford studied with Elliott Carter and Lawrence Moss. His style is modern and complex in structure.

 

Diedre Murray (1951 - )

Diedre Murray is a cellist and composer known to both the jazz and classical worlds. Most of her classical scores, including her opera "The Running Man" are heavily influenced by jazz idioms.

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Adolphus Hailstork (1941 - )

Hailstork has served as composer-in-residence at both Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University. His music combines African-American motifs with an accessible, almost impressionistic classical style. Hailstork's catalog includes three symphonies, two operas, and several orchestral and chamber works.

 

Week 1 Annotated List
Week 2 Annotated List
Week 3 Annotated List
Week 4 Annotated List