Jun.
09
2020
Black Music Month
As was first declared by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, June is Black Music Month (later renamed African American Music Appreciation Month by President Obama in 2016, but still regularly referred to by its original name). It is always important, but especially so given the current circumstances, to recognize the contributions that people of the African diaspora have made to classical music, in performance, direction, and composition. This will be an ongoing list of every Black musician appearing on our playlists this month that I will update as frequently as possible, and you can click each musician’s name for more information!
COMPOSERS
- Florence Price
- Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
- William Grant Still
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
- José Maurício Nunes Garcia
- Adolphus Hailstork
- Michael Abels
- Irene Britton Smith
- Duke Ellington
- Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
- Undine Smith Moore
- Scott Joplin
- José White Lafitte
- Robert Nathaniel Dett
- Harry T. Burleigh
- George Walker
- Charles Albert Tindley
- William Dawson
- Errollyn Wallen
- Carlos Simon
- Jessie Montgomery (also a violinist and member of the Catalyst Quartet)
- Daniel Bernard Roumain
PERFORMERS
- Isata Kanneh-Mason
- André Watts
- Sheku Kanneh-Mason
- Awadagin Pratt
- Branford Marsalis
- Wynton Marsalis
- Leon Bates
- Eric Owens
- Paul Robeson
- Anthony McGill
- Demarre McGill
- Kelly Hall-Tompkins
- Gregory Walker
- Harold Jones
- Althea Waites
- Simon Estes
- Leontyne Price
- Morgan State University Choir
- Kathleen Battle
- Harlem Quartet
- Marcus Thompson
- Donnie Ray Albert
- Carmen Balthrop
- Betty Allen
- Curtis Rayam
- Sir Willard White
- Chineke! Orchestra
- Stewart Goodyear (also a composer)
- Tai Murray
- Chi-Chi Nwanoku
- Sanford Allen
- The Catalyst Quartet
- Gerard Aimontche
