top of page

Search


“Another Message from the Gods to Man via MARGARET BONDS”:
With roots dating to the mid-1930s, Margaret Bonds's song "Note on Commercial Theater" has finally been published. Here is its story.
John Michael Cooper
Mar 411 min read
33 views
1 comment


SEQUINA DUBOSE: FROM “BLURRED LINES,” A MESSAGE CRYSTAL CLEAR (pt. 1 of 2)
In some ways, the year 2023 was a year of revanchism and regression in classical music. Just a few years earlier, many voices –...
John Michael Cooper
Feb 16, 20247 min read
82 views
0 comments

MARGARET BONDS, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND THE JOY OF “JOY”:
A Conspirare Premiere and a Gratuitous Youthful Photo Langston Hughes’s poem Joy was first published in the collection The Weary Blues...
John Michael Cooper
Mar 24, 20234 min read
395 views
0 comments


OF HOPE AND NEW BEGINNINGS
A Commencement Letter from Langston Hughes, Shared with Margaret Bonds We are in an age of marches, of collective protests against...
John Michael Cooper
May 31, 20223 min read
39 views
0 comments


THE WORLD PREMIERE OF FLORENCE PRICE’S FIRST CHORAL-ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION
The Song of Hope sounds at Ithaca College under the baton of Michael Stern [This post is occasioned by the world première of Florence B....
John Michael Cooper
Mar 19, 20223 min read
461 views
0 comments


SINCE 1973
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. CT, the internationally heralded GRAMMY-winning chorus Conspirare, conducted by...
John Michael Cooper
Feb 12, 20223 min read
101 views
0 comments


CELEBRATING A FLORENCE PRICE COMPOSITION THAT DIDN’T WIN
Lady Jess and Ric’key Pageot Record the Recently Published Andante con espressione for Violin and Piano The Summer of 1926 was important...
John Michael Cooper
Feb 4, 20224 min read
158 views
0 comments


A MOST AUGUST OCCASION
And a Most August Album and Edition, on the Bicentennial of Pauline Viardot-García Few musical dynasties compare to the one that included...
John Michael Cooper
Dec 27, 20217 min read
184 views
0 comments


“THE THREE WISE MEN”:
A Seasonal Blessing in Word and Song from the Pen of W.E.B. Du Bois (1913) W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a male womanist as well as an...
John Michael Cooper
Dec 16, 20215 min read
52 views
0 comments


TWO POSTHUMOUS REVIVALS OF MARGARET BONDS AND LANGSTON HUGHES: AFRICAN DANCE (Danse africaine)
Performances by Greg Watkins and Members of the CAAPA Chorale, November 14, 2021; and Anton Nel and Members of Conspirare, February 15,...
John Michael Cooper
Dec 13, 20212 min read
129 views
0 comments


ARE WOMEN PEOPLE?
An Important New Album from Composer Lori Laitman “Settles the Question” I’m not a reviewer – I’m just a musicologist who’s deeply,...
John Michael Cooper
Dec 8, 20216 min read
189 views
0 comments


OUR PROMISES TO THE WORLD
A Teacher Bids a Fond Farewell (for now) to His Fine Students and an Adventurous Course [Background: Yesterday was the last regular class...
John Michael Cooper
Dec 3, 20212 min read
26 views
0 comments


FLORENCE PRICE V. LANGSTON HUGHES AT THE “FEET O’ JESUS”
Langston Hughes’s relationship with the Christian church was . . . complicated. Except that it wasn’t. While he acknowledged that the...
John Michael Cooper
Aug 28, 20214 min read
429 views
0 comments

“YOU GIVE ME A LIFT”
A Song Lyric by Margaret Bonds Margaret Bonds traveled nearly constantly in her adult life. Even though she maintained a single address...
John Michael Cooper
Aug 5, 20212 min read
30 views
0 comments


LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH POEMS:
MARGARET BONDS, EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, AND LANGSTON HUGHES* * (WITH A CAMEO BY DEBUSSY AND PIERRE LOUŸS) The long, close, and...
John Michael Cooper
Jul 10, 20213 min read
59 views
0 comments


THE BEAUTY OF BLACKNESS
Florence B. Price’s “Night” (Text by Bessie Mayle) The poetry, music, and other artworks of the Harlem Renaissance and Chicago Black...
John Michael Cooper
Mar 7, 20213 min read
224 views
0 comments


#SONGSOFCOMFORT:
A new and consciously LIVE music video of Margaret Bonds's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" offers a fresh look at her musical world.
John Michael Cooper
Aug 30, 20204 min read
58 views
0 comments


WHEN THE DOVE ENTERS IN
The newly recovered gospel song "When the Dove Enters In" by Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes delivers a symbolic message for our own time.
John Michael Cooper
Jul 30, 20203 min read
1,403 views
0 comments


OF COMFORT, TRAUMA, AND MUSIC
A new series of videos featuring music of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds shows music's ability to bring comfort and beauty amidst trauma.
John Michael Cooper
Jul 26, 20205 min read
258 views
0 comments


TESTIMONY: A #BLACKLIVESMATTER MANIFESTO
41 readers ages 5-81 voice their support for #BlackLivesMatter in a collaborative reading of a Civil Rights manifesto by W.E.B. Du Bois.
John Michael Cooper
Jul 20, 20202 min read
59 views
0 comments

John Michael Cooper
Mar 1710 min read
0


John Michael Cooper
Mar 411 min read
1


John Michael Cooper
Jan 174 min read
0


John Michael Cooper
Nov 2, 20245 min read
0

bottom of page