Black classical musicians have been composing substantial music for centuries. This February, we shined the spotlight on a score… one every weekday… of great composers with roots in Africa.
We met Le Mozart Noir… the man who not only was a world-famous swordsman, but an acknowledged master of the violin bow and the composing quill, playing duets with Queen Marie Antoinette. We visited a city of Creole musical dynasties, when New Orleans was home to the finest orchestras in the new world. We rediscovered a woman tirelessly composing in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, many of whose works were likewise rediscovered: in a dilapidated downstate summer house, leading to a worldwide wave of interest in her music. And we heard a sinfonietta by a 2oth century New York composer… who himself was named after an Afro-English composer whose interest in American music made him a 19
th century fan favorite in the U.S.
Looking for the music? TSPR Music Director Ken Zahnle shares all the compositions he featured on
Ovation on a
Spotify playlist.
Violinist, composer, conductor, impresario, swordsman, duelist, cavalry commander, royal bodyguard, revolutionary… le Mozart Noir.
