African American musicians

John Michael Cooper

Oct 53 min read

A FLORENCE PRICE POSTHUMOUS PREMIERE

Moods for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano at the International Florence Price Festival NO ONE has been more assiduous about ensuring that the...

John Michael Cooper

Sep 24 min read

REDISCOVERING WILL DIXON AT 145

The latter-day rediscovery of musical and theatrical polymath Will Dixon offers today's world a much-needed opportunity -- and a challenge

John Michael Cooper

Feb 167 min read

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

Dec 12, 20222 min read

A MEMORIAL PERFORMANCE FOR FLORENCE B. PRICE

The Second Violin Concerto in 1953 It’s generally said that Florence Price’s moving and innovative Second Violin Concerto was premiered...

John Michael Cooper

Nov 19, 20224 min read

MARGARET BONDS: “NO MAN HAS SEEN HIS FACE” (1968)

Fifty-one-year-old Owen Brady was found unconscious and riddled with bullets inside a wrecked and burning car that had crashed into the...

John Michael Cooper

Jun 3, 20222 min read

FLORENCE PRICE’S SCENES OF TENEMENT LIFE

Today witnesses the release of 2022’s second[1] milestone in the recorded legacy of Florence B. Price: the world-premiere recording of...

John Michael Cooper

May 28, 20228 min read

ON HARRY T. BURLEIGH, HIS LIFE AND LEGACIES

[This is the fourth in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...

John Michael Cooper

May 17, 20222 min read

ON JAMES MONROE TROTTER AND HIS "MUSIC AND SOME HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE" (Part 2)

[This is the second in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...

John Michael Cooper

May 17, 20223 min read

ON JAMES MONROE TROTTER AND HIS "MUSIC AND SOME HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE" (Part 1)

[This is the first in a series of posts of “blogified” short entries from the forthcoming second, enlarged edition of my Historical...