A. Kori Hill
It’s never too late to find new composers to check out. Since we’ve recently celebrated Black History Month, I thought it’d be nice to check out some Black composers that don’t always make the listicles each year. Add these to your playlist and check them out all year round!
L. Viola Kinney – Mother’s Sacrifice (1909)
L. Viola Kinney (1891–1945) was a Missouri native who studied music at Western University in Kansas. She spent her career as an educator and composed at least three works in her lifetime, one of which survives: Mother’s Sacrifice.
Mother’s Sacrifice is a character piece for solo piano. Viola moves us through different key areas, introducing emotions via new melodies and the return of old ones. We can hear tenderness in the F major sections; fun in the carnivalesque-waltz section, and tragedy in G minor; and then a reclaiming of that tenderness in the final section.
Nokuthula Ngwenyama – Sonoran Storm (2016 & 2021)
Nokuthula Ngwenyama (No-goo-TOO-lah En-gwen-YAH-ma) (b. 1976) is a composer and violist. In 2016, she wrote Sonoran Storm – first for solo viola and then repurposed it as the third movement of her viola concerto, also called Sonoran Storm!
Nokuthula was inspired by her time living in the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across Mexico, Arizona, and California. The piece starts with a gritty folk energy; but there’s also moments of reflection and slowness. This shows the contrasts of the desert: the blinding sun; the fierce dust storms; and the mesmerizing tranquility of being in a space seemingly devoid of life.
Mary Watkins – Five Movements in Color: Soul of Remembrance (1994)
Mary Watkins (b. 1939) is a composer, pianist, arranger, teacher, and record producer. She has written a lot of material for orchestra, jazz ensemble, film, and traveling productions. She often explores historical and cultural themes in her work, whether in her operas on Emmet Till and Clara Barton or in her orchestral music like Five Movements in Color: Soul of Remembrance.
Five Movements in Color explores African American history and experience. But instead of a canvas and paint, Mary uses the different colors of the orchestra! Whether it’s icy sounds in the strings or polyrhythms between sections, Mary paints something vibrant and dynamic through sound.
José White – Violin Concerto in F# minor (1864)
José White (1835–1918) was an Afro-Cuban violinist and composer born in Cuba and based in Paris. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, performed with Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and toured Europe, the Caribbean and South America. He moved to Rio de Janiero in 1875, where he served as director of the Imperial Conservatory from 1875 until 1889. He even played on a Stradivarius – the 1737 one nicknamed “Swansong!”
His Violin Concerto in F# minor is typical of the mid-late 19th century: highly melodic, virtuosic, and lyrical. The first movement is fierce and emotional; the second movement, in D major, is passionate; the third movement, in A major, is fiendish and peppy.
