Music of Black Composers

Details

Michael Arnowitt full profile / Solo piano / 1 musician

Other players: Michael Arnowitt

Full program notes

Program Pieces

Leslie Adams: Etude no. 1 in G minor
George Walker: selections from Sonatas for Piano no. 1 and no. 2
Joshua Uzoigwe: Ukom, from his set of pieces Talking Drums
William Grant Still: selections from Lenox Avenue (1937)
Michael Arnowitt: Chicago Avenue (in memory of George Floyd)
Mongo Santamaria/John Coltrane: Afro Blue

Program Description

Michael Arnowitt presents a variety of classical and jazz piano pieces by Black composers. This program features music by George Walker, an exceptional classical musician, including selections from his Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2, as well as a theme and variations set on a Kentucky folk song. Walker was the first African-American concert pianist to perform major piano concertos with the greatest American symphony orchestras in the period after World War II, and the first Black composer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. This program also features Leslie Adams’ expressive Etude in G minor, blending romantic melodies with jazz-tinged harmonies, and Joshua Uzoigwe’s "Ukom." "Ukom," from Uzoigwe’s "Talking Drums" series, evokes the celebratory drumming and singing of southeastern Nigeria. Highlights from this program include excerpts from William Grant Still’s vibrant "Lenox Avenue," a 1937 portrayal of Harlem street life originally performed by the Los Angeles WPA Symphony Orchestra. Arnowitt will close the program in a jazz spirit with an original composition, "Chicago Avenue," honoring George Floyd, and "Afro Blue," Mongo Santamaria’s 1959 classic popularized by John Coltrane, which fuses African drumming rhythms with the soulful feel of jazz blues.

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