John Michael Cooper
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- May 31, 2022
- 3 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Mar 19, 2022
- 3 min
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....
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John Michael Cooper
- Feb 12, 2022
- 3 min
SINCE 1973
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. CT, the internationally heralded GRAMMY-winning chorus Conspirare, conducted by...
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John Michael Cooper
- Feb 4, 2022
- 4 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Dec 27, 2021
- 7 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Dec 16, 2021
- 5 min
“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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Dec 13, 2021
- 2 min
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,...
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John Michael Cooper
- Dec 8, 2021
- 6 min
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,...
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John Michael Cooper
- Dec 3, 2021
- 2 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Aug 28, 2021
- 4 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Aug 5, 2021
- 2 min
“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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Jul 10, 2021
- 3 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Mar 7, 2021
- 3 min
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...
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John Michael Cooper
- Aug 30, 2020
- 4 min
#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.
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John Michael Cooper
- Jul 30, 2020
- 3 min
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.
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John Michael Cooper
- Jul 26, 2020
- 5 min
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.
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John Michael Cooper
- Jul 20, 2020
- 2 min
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.
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John Michael Cooper
- May 24, 2020
- 4 min
SILENCE AND SOUND
Margaret Bonds's little-known settings of Robert Frost's well-known "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" teach important lessons.
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John Michael Cooper
- May 3, 2020
- 5 min
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
Florence Price's "The Heart of a Woman" gives eloquent voice to the issues faced by African Americans as well as women.
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