John Michael CooperJun 3, 20222 min readFLORENCE PRICE’S SCENES OF TENEMENT LIFEToday witnesses the release of 2022’s second[1] milestone in the recorded legacy of Florence B. Price: the world-premiere recording of...
John Michael CooperMar 29, 20224 min readTHREE IN D.C. The Voice of Margaret Bonds Rises in Three Events in the U.S. Capital This Weekend The estimable Margaret Bonds’s (1913-72) musical...
John Michael CooperFeb 12, 20223 min readSINCE 1973On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. CT, the internationally heralded GRAMMY-winning chorus Conspirare, conducted by...
John Michael CooperJan 2, 20222 min readTHE FIRST LIVE RECORDING OF AN AFRO-MODERNIST “COTTON DANCE” (ca. 1940) BY FLORENCE B. PRICEperformed by Michael Lu On New Year’s Eve of the rough-and-tumble year 2021 I got a fabulous musical surprise – 365 days late. The...
John Michael CooperSep 20, 20214 min readMARGARET BONDS’S SENIOR RECITAL (1933)With a Playlist Before 1934, Margaret Bonds publicly programmed only all-White recitals. After 1934 she never did that again. Why the...
John Michael CooperFeb 2, 20212 min readCELEBRATING MARGARET BONDS, COMPOSER AND PIANISTA Concert and a Premiere Broadcast by Bass-Baritone Timothy Jones, Pianist Howard Watkins, and ROCO Margaret Bonds (1913-72) is...
John Michael CooperJan 24, 20213 min readAN “AMERICAN TANGO” BY MARGARET BONDSMARGARET BONDS (1913-72) WAS A CONCERT PIANIST as well as a composer. By the age of eight she had been taking piano lessons for several...