African American Soprano Martina Arroyo on Radio from Berlin

Once a month, streaming audio on the Internet brings a Berlin radio broadcast of the organization Classic in Black to the computer users of the world.

On Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 at 8:00 P.M. Berlin Time (2:00 P.M. EDT in the U.S.), Classic in Black presents a portrait of the African-American Soprano Martina Arroyo, accompanied by a selection of her recordings. Harry Louiserre is Producer and Moderator; Rolf Gänsrich is Technician. The program originates in Germany but is broadcast in English. Harry Louiserre is Managing Director of the company Classic in Black, Paris/Berlin/New York. He is a singer and music producer who has long been located in Berlin, according to his group's website, Classicinblack.de/ Mr. Louiserre is associated with Berlin Fountainhead Dance Theatre, as well as many other organizations, including the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, Black International Cinema Berlin and Afrikahaus Berlin.

The radio program can be heard live once each month; audio streaming is available at the website of Offener Kanal Berlin: OKB.de/ Look for the heading “Radio - live stream” in the upper right corner of the page, and select "RealOne" or "WinAmp". Classic in Black is also included periodically on “The Collegium Television Program”.

Classic In Black presents extensive photo and text resources on Black Classical Music at another website. The page is entitled “A Dialogue of Civilizations: African Culture and Classical Music”. The artists featured are Composers, Conductors, Musicians, Singers and Ballet Dancers, but the overwhelming majority are vocalists.

The contralto Marian Anderson is profiled first in a lengthy biographical essay by Randye L. Jones. Next is Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933), of whom Classic in Black says:

“She sang for kings, died in poverty
Sissieretta Jones was a pioneer of black operatic singing, and she paved the way for a long list of black opera singers to follow, including Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, Leontyne Price, and Grace Bumbry, among others.”

The Afro-British composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is next, followed by Grace Bumbry, the distinguished African American conductor James DePreist, the African American composer and pianist Margaret Allison Bonds, the pioneering African American conductor Dean Dixon and a great many others.

Martina Arroyo
Offener Kanal
Harry Louiserre
African American
Black Soprano
classical music

Chris Foley's Pagecast Features Joshua Nemith on Sodi Braide

(Sodi Braide Recorded live at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition May 20 - June 5, 2005, Fort Worth, Texas)

AfriClassical, the blog companion to AfriClassical.com, is gratified that Toronto pianist Chris Foley's Pagecast of Classical Music Blogs presents the lead story from Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist Blog today, “Franck Explored by Nigerian Sodi Braide”. Here is the opening paragraph:

William Zick (AfriClassical) informed me of Nigerian pianist Sodi Braide’s recent recording of Franck solo piano works (released on the Lyrinx label). Mr. Braide won a jury discretionary award at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He placed sixth in the Leeds International Competition in 2003. I look forward to listening to this artist’s rendering of these often overlooked Romantic works sometime soon. I am sure that it will be a source of pride for the Nigerian musical community. Mr. Braide’s accomplishments at the two highly significant international piano competitions reveal that he will be an important pianist in years to come. You can read more about Sodi Braide in Mr. Zick’s informative post about the Franck release.

+Braide" rel="tag">Sodi Braide

+Pianist" rel="tag">Nigerian Pianist

+music" rel="tag">classical music

César Franck

Foley" rel="tag">Chris Foley

+Nemith" rel="tag">Joshua Nemith




Field Negro Blog Promotes Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide

The very popular Field Negro blog has been carrying this story on the Sept. 24, 2007 post in AfriClassical, Piano Works of Franck On CD By Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide in its right column for the past few days:

“Check Out This Brother
A Nigerian Classical Pianist With The Goods
Thanks Bill Zick For This Link”

Sodi Braide has responded to the interest in his recording:

“Thank you so much for spreading info about my cd! I loved both your blog post and the African Loft story.“

Four days after the post was published on AfriClassical, and two days after it was republished on African Loft, interest in Sodi Braide's CD of piano works of César Franck, Lyrinx 249, is unabated. It is clear that the Field Negro blog has brought well-deserved attention to this Nigerian classical pianist with its continuing post. When the CD was released in March it drew appreciative reviews in France, yet until this week it remained unknown to many American fans of classical music.



+Braide" rel="tag"> Sodi Braide

+Pianist" rel="tag"> Nigerian Pianist

+Negro" rel="tag"> Field Negro

César Franck

Pianist" rel="tag"> Black Pianist

+music" rel="tag"> classical music

ChoralBlog Celebrates Sept. 26 Birthday of William Levi Dawson, African American Composer

[Negro Folk Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Järvi, conductor; Chandos 9226 (1993)]

ChoralNet's ChoralBlog provides “Resources and communications for the global choral community”. It has linked to the AfriClassical birthday tribute to William Levi Dawson (1899-1990), the African American composer who was also a renowned choral director at Tuskegee Institute:

“Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Wonderful Post about William Dawson
From AfriClassical, a celebration of William Dawson's birthday on September 26

From the blog post:

September 26 is the anniversary of the birth of a towering figure in African American choral music, William Levi Dawson, a composer, professor and choir director. He was born on September 26, 1899 in Anniston, Alabama. Dominique-René de Lerma, Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin has been writing about Black classical music for four decades. He has made his research entry on William Levi Dawson available to this Website:

He was born in Anniston Alabama and ran away from home at age 13 to enter Tuskegee Institute (at this time youngsters wishing a full pre-college education could only secure this on a college campus). While there he studied with Frank L. Drye and Alice Carter Simmons, played in the schools' instrumental ensembles, serve as music librarian, and toured for five years with the Institute Singers. His initial activity as composer began when he was 16.”

William Dawson
Choral Net
Black Composer
classical music
African American
African Descent

African Loft Features Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide

The website African Loft, "Where the People and Friends of Africa Mingle", has republished our post Piano Works of Franck on CD by Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide in an article dated Sept. 26, 2007. We accepted an invitation to submit it, as a "Guest Author". Comments from the site's visitors include these two:

ME: Congratulations to him!!! It makes me happy to see Nigerians in the positive light in main stream media……

Dan: I don't know much about classical music, but it surely feels good seeing Sodi here…a pleasant reminder that Nigeria is not only a nation of greedy legislators…Thanks William!


African Loft


Sodi Braide"

African Pianist

classical music

Black Pianist

Franck CD

William Levi Dawson, African American Composer Born Sept. 26, 1899

[The Spirituals of William L. Dawson; The St. Olaf Choir; Anton Armstron, conductor; Marvis Martin, soprano; St. Olaf Records 2159 (1997)]


September 26 is the anniversary of the birth of a towering figure in African American choral music, William Levi Dawson, a composer, professor and choir director. He was born on September 26, 1899 in Anniston, Alabama. Dominique-René de Lerma, Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin has been writing about Black classical music for four decades. He has made his research entry on William Levi Dawson available to this Website:

He was born in Anniston Alabama and ran away from home at age 13 to enter Tuskegee Institute (at this time youngsters wishing a full pre-college education could only secure this on a college campus). While there he studied with Frank L. Drye and Alice Carter Simmons, played in the schools’ instrumental ensembles, serve as music librarian, and toured for five years with the Institute Singers. His initial activity as composer began when he was 16.

Dawson pursued additional music studies upon graduation from Tuskegee Institute, and held various positions in music as well, Prof. De Lerma tells us:

In 1921, when graduated from Tuskegee, he spent a year at Washburn College in Topeka Kansas and directed the music program at the Topeka Vocational College. He was engaged that summer as tenor and trombonist with the Redpath Chautauqua. Following this he enrolled at the Horner Institute of Fine Arts in Kansas City Missouri, where, in 1925, he won his B.M. degree, but was not allowed on stage to receive his diploma.

The research entry details Dawson's Master's Degree in Music, his postgraduate study and subsequent private study:

From 1922 to 1926 he taught at Lincoln High School in Kansas City, Kansas. From here he went to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago (M.M., 1927), performing as first trombonist with the Civic Orchestra (1926-1930). After graduating, he studied with Carl Busch and Regina G. Hall. Additional work was undertaken at the Eastman School of Music. He was also a private student of Adolf Weidig, Horvard Otterstrom, and Felix Borowski.

William Levi Dawson returned to Tuskegee Institute to teach in 1931, and ran the Music Department for 25 years. Prof. De Lerma writes:

He was virtually the entire music faculty at Tuskegee from 1931 to 1956.

Wikipedia Encyclopedia notes Dawson brought renown to the Tuskegee Institute Choir:

He also developed the choir into an internationally known ensemble. Dawson directed the Tuskegee Institute Choir which was invited to sing at New York City's Radio Music Hall in 1932 for a week of six daily performances.

We learn from Dominique-René de Lerma that Dawson seemed to be frustrated on occasion, and submitted his resignation repeatedly before it was accepted:

Dawson appeared at times to be disgruntled and, following his annual resignations from Tuskegee, was allowed his freedom in that last year. His tours as choral conductor started in 1956, when the State Department sent him to Spain.

Three honorary doctorates and two Wanamaker awards were among the many honors received by William Levi Dawson, according to the research entry.

Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony (28:26) was recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Neeme Järvi, Conductor, on Chandos 9226 (1993). Michael Fleming's liner notes follow the work from its origins in Chicago to its premiere in Philadelphia and to the comments of a music critic for a New York newspaper:

Dawson began work on the Negro Folk Symphony while in Chicago. On tour with the Tuskegee choir in New York he showed the manuscript to the conductor Leopold Stokowski, who made suggestions for its expansion. In this form, comprising three movements, it was first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. The critic for the New York World Telegram was at the premiere and he praised the symphony's 'imagination, warmth, drama---[and] sumptuous orchestration'. In its overall shape, and especially in its orchestration, the symphony falls into the late-Romantic tradition.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's recording of the Negro Folk Symphony has been reissued on Chandos 9909 (2001). The disc also includes three works by Duke Ellington. The three movements of the symphony are entitled: The Bond of Africa, Hope in the Night and O, le' me shine, shine like a Morning Star! Michael Fleming explains that Dawson revised the work after visiting Africa. He also provides some of the composer's remarks:

After a trip to West Africa in 1952, however, the composer revised it to embody authentic African rhythmic patterns, and it was in this form that Stokowski recorded it, and it is most frequently played today.

The symphony can be appreciated purely as a musical work, without any knowledge of the melodies or feelings that form its background. There are strong programmatic elements in the piece, however, as the composer's own remarks, written for the world premiere, make clear:

'This Symphony is based entirely on Negro folk-music. The themes are taken from what are popularly known as Negro spirituals, and the practised ear will recognize the recurrence of characteristic themes throughout the composition.'

Leopold Stokowski conducted the first performance of Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony in 1934. He also recorded the work for Decca Records in 1961. The historic LP recording has since been reissued on CD by Deutsche Grammophon as DG 477 6502 (2007). Alan Newcombe says in the liner notes that the work was important to the evolution of the American symphony:

His Negro Folk Symphony was first performed by Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. After making a study of indigenous African music, in 1952 Dawson revised his work to give it a more "African" rhythmic underpinning. While recalling the idiom of Dvorak's "New World" Symphony and the cyclic principles of the César Franck school, not to mention Bruckner's Fourth at the opening of the last movement, the work's individuality of texture and rhythmic energy make it a significant, albeit largely unacknowledged, contribution to the development of the American symphony.

Dawson's spirituals have been widely sung by choral groups for several generations. The extensive Works list below includes recordings on 78 rpm record, LP record and CD. Among the CDs is Ain' a that good news! It is performed by Kathleen Battle, soprano, and Christopher Parkening, guitar, on EMI Classics 47196 (1990). William Levi Dawson died in Montgomery, Alabama on May 5, 1990. Prof. De Lerma notes:

His papers are on deposit in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University.

Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma has compiled a Works List and a Bibliography containing hundreds of carefully documented entries on compositions, recordings and publications.

William+Dawson" rel="tag">William Dawson
Folk+Symphony" rel="tag">Folk Symphony
African+American" rel="tag">African American
Black+Composer" rel="tag">Black Composer
classical+music" rel="tag">classical music
Negro+Folk" rel="tag">Negro Folk

Black Classical Musicians and Concerts 2007-2008 in Metro Philadelphia

(Pianist Stewart Goodyear is Featured on the Philadelphia Concert Calendar of Black Musicians & Composers)

A recent post featured the ambitious reference work of Richard Greene, “Classical Music Recordings of Black Composers”, which has long been linked to the Composers of African Descent section of AfriClassical.com Richard has brought another project to our attention, an online calendar called “Black Classical Musicians and Concerts 2007-2008”, for Philadelphia and the surrounding metropolitan area. The motto of the concert calendar is: “All are deserving! ...and because of musical genius and creativity, they each deserve to be known and heard.”

A photo gallery is followed by an entry for each concert. For example, here is an entry for Sept. 28 and 29 at 8:00 at the Grand Opera House, Wilmington, Delaware:

Stewart Goodyear, piano, with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra
This is an accomplished young artist whose career is clearly on the rise. Last year he successfully stepped in for an ill Andre Watts to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Performances on both Friday and Saturday evenings
Tickets and information: Contact the Delaware Symphony - 800 374-7263 or www.desymphony.org

"Black Classical Musicians and Concerts 2007-2008" presents a huge number of concerts throughout the metropolitan Philadelphia area. It also serves as a ready-made blueprint for similar calendars for other cities and towns across the country. The concert calendar will help patrons find concerts in the local area, which in turn will aid performers in drawing audiences.

One of the purposes of the calendar is to make it clear that Black and African American classical performers not only exist, but perform actively in the Philadelphia area during every concert season. We congratulate Richard on another labor of love, one which will be of great benefit to people who live in or visit the Philadelphia metro area.

Black+Musicians" rel="tag">Black Musicians
Philadelphia+Concerts" rel="tag">Philadelphia Concerts
classical+music" rel="tag">classical music
Stewart+Goodyear" rel="tag">Stewart Goodyear
Black+Composers" rel="tag">Black Composers
African+American" rel="tag">African American



Piano Works of Franck on CD by Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide

(With apologies to subscribers, this post is being republished because Technorati tags have not appeared as intended.)

Sodi Braide is a 32-year-old Nigerian pianist who brought himself to our attention last year. We recently learned of his Lyrinx CD of solo piano works of César Franck, released this year, and read an online interview he gave to Agnès Jourdain of the French website PianoBleu.com When we contacted him, Sodi told us of some French reviews of the CD, and recommended the PianoBleu.com interview to us as well. One of the most compelling passages is Sodi's description of his first piano competition, in Pretoria, South Africa in 1996. He recalls that local people were amazed to see a Black pianist who played classical music. The genre had been identified as belonging to White people. Sodi has vivid memories of the impact of his presence in the finals of the competition: “It was just after the end of apartheid, and some were really thunderstruck to discover that in fact there was not a cultural barrier due to skin color!”

This post presents our English translation of several excerpts from the interview:

“Sodi Braide was born June 14, 1975 to Nigerian parents at Newcastle, U.K. His parents were academics; both were scientists but music lovers as well. 'My father is an amateur pianist (as was his father before him). Moreover, one of my two brothers plays the guitar. Each Christmas my parents organize a concert, with children's chorale, in which I participate, on the piano or in the chorale. My mother had enough musical knowledge to make the chorale work, even though she has never pursued formal music studies.'

The piano of the house naturally made a part of Sodi's world from his childhood. 'I put myself on my father's knees to amuse myself with touching it' and Sodi Braide took courses from the age of 3 years in Dublin, Ireland. The family had moved to follow his father, who was completing his studies as an agronomist. 'My parents saw that I was interested in the instrument, but my father did not want to give me lessons himself, because he was fearful of passing on his faults. He preferred that the lessons be given by a professional. So one beautiful day, they led me to the home of a woman, a tutor. I was only three years old. She didn't want to give me lessons, finding me too young. She said she could not teach the reading of the notes unless children already knew how to read words. My parents told her 'But he already knows how to read!' She would not believe it, so she gave me a book, which I read. I was a little advanced. She found that I had begun to read at the age of two and a half years. She then agreed to take me as a student.'

In December 1979, Sodi had to leave again for Nigeria. 'My father had finished his doctorate. My parents therefore returned to their work at the Ahmadu Bello University, at Zaria, in the North of Nigeria. It was very difficult to find good teachers. At the time, there was no conservatory of music in Nigeria. So these years of piano studies were a little chaotic for me. We sometimes drove up to 100 kilometers, once a week, so I could have my piano lesson. When I think back on it, I tell myself it is a miracle that I became a pianist.'

In 1987, his parents learned, by chance, of a piano competition for pianists under 25 years of age. It was organized by the Musical Society of Nigeria, with the support of the French Cultural Center, in Lagos. His parents decided to have Sodi participate. 'The first prize of the competition was a scholarship for two months of studies in France. The pianist Éric Heidsieck was on the jury, as was his wife, Tania. They were filled with enthusiasm by my playing, and supported giving me the first prize. The other members of the jury were not in agreement, and the prize was finally awarded to someone else. But Heidsieck was so furious that, upon returning to France, he did everything he was able to do so that I would be able to come to France. Finally, thanks to his recommendations, I obtained a scholarship not of two months, but of two years, renewable!'

Sodi Braide was able to perfect his musical studies: 'In arriving in France, I was 13 years old. Éric Heidsieck entrusted me to Françoise Thinat, with whom I had studied at the Conservatory of Orleans. It was the first time I followed a regular course of musical studies. Some years later, I did a great deal of work to prepare for the entrance competition at the CNSM of Paris, where I was admitted at the age of 16 years, in the class of Jacques Rouvier. But at that time, I was not yet sure of wanting to become a professional musician. I also liked the sciences and I was in my final year of science studies that year. I really decided to become a musician two months before the end of the school year, when I requested a temporary leave from classes of the CNSM to be able to pass the baccalaureate. I practically stopped playing the piano for two months, and I missed it very much. At that time I knew that my wish was music.' It was a wish he followed with success since Sodi won the First Prize of piano and of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) of Paris in the classes of Jacques Rouvier and Jean Mouillère. He was unanimously awarded the Superior Performance Diploma of the École Normale de Paris, in the class of Françoise Thinat.

Desiring to continue to perfect himself, he entered in the 3^rd cycle at the CNSM of Paris in the class of Gérard Frémy, before being admitted in the class of Dimitri Bashkirov at the Reine Sofia School of Madrid.

Sodi Braide won numerous prizes and distinctions – first of all Pretoria, South Africa (1996). 'It was my first competition. I was only 20 years old, and one of my motivations for entering it was simply the fact that my parents did not live very far away at the time. They were working at the University of Lesotho. However, I believe that I was not really conscious of the investment, of the level of preparation, which was required for such a difficult competition! I had already played one or two times in South Africa, and I remembered that most of the South Africans, at the time, had never seen seen a Black pianist of classical music, “music of the Whites”, what's more in the finals of such a competition. It was just after the end of apartheid, and some were really thunderstruck to discover that in fact there was not a cultural barrier due to skin color!'

Sodi was also the winner of the Natexis Banques Populaires from 2001 to 2004. He was the winner of the 6^th prize in the Leeds competition (2003), and he won the Jury Discretionary Prize in the Van Cliburn competition (2005). 'I didn't like the competitions! I found the notion of “competition” impossible to reconcile with that of “art”. However, it was good the competitions existed, and rare are the young musicians who never enter the competitions. If one decides to enter a competition, then he must try to take the good side – I often say to myself during competitions that I am not competing against the others but against myself, that the competition was an occasion to raise my level of artistic standard beyond what I had done before. All of the competitions in which I have participated have been the occasion for me to make progress as a pianist and as a musician.'

Sodi Braide presently lives in Paris and performs recitals and chamber music in France (Radio France, Salle de l'Archipel, Salle Cortot and the Chopin Festival of Bagatelle, among others) He also performs in England, the United States, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Romania and South Africa.

'The "Déclic" program of Cultures France (formerly AFAA) has been extraordinary for me. I have been able, thanks to this program, to make many tours, notably in Latin America, a continent which I adore and where I feel very well. I think the Latin Americans like me because I have been reinvited six or seven times in four years! Next autumn I am due to return there in a tour of Mexico. Thanks to these tours, I have been able to acquire an experience of the scene and a maturity that I never had before. It is not all working on the piano at home, one must also confront the public.'

He recently recorded a CD of works of César Franck. 'Franck is an amazing composer who often succeeds in reconciling simplicity and complexity in the most natural way there is. The idea of working with the Chorals transcribed by Blanche Selva came to me much later. These are very moving works, but difficult to play. They present numerous difficulties already at the organ, and this difficulty is still greater at the piano because we must come to do with our two hands that which the organists do with their hands and the pedals.'

Franck: Works for Piano, by Sodi Braide
César Franck (1822-1890), the Belgian composer who was naturalized French, was reconciled with the piano only towards the end of his life: against the wishes of his father, who had encouraged him to work on it in excessively high doses in his youth. He was more interested in the organ; however musicians did not miss the chance to transcribe for the piano writings, even late ones, which he had originally written for this other instrument.”

The website Arte.tv/fr writes:
“Jan. 9, 2007 – Romantic
César Franck Performed by Sodi Braide on Piano
Choral Prelude & Fugue FWV 21, Prelude, Fugue & Variation for Organ FWV 30 (Transcription by Harold Bauer & Sodi Braide), Three Chorales for Organ (Transcription by Blanche Selva), Prelude, Aria & Final FWV 23.

The Lyrinx company invites us to discover pianist Sodi Braide in the work of César Franck. A happy encounter and a CD which cannot be overlooked.”

Jean-Jacques Millo writes at the website Parutions.com (Posted March 13, 2007)
“In this recital devoted to the works for solo piano of Franck, Sodi Braide displays an exemplary sense of architecture. With finesse, his sensible and virtuoso playing reinvents the autumnal colors of the French composer. And for our greatest pleasure, the coherence of his program puts in evidence a customary and inspired talent.”

CDs and Concerts of Sodi Braide

DiscPlus.ch and other European websites sell the César Franck CD. The Van Cliburn Foundation Gift Shop http://shop.cliburn.org/ offers Sodi Braide's 2005 Competition CD. The pianist says: “I will be playing recitals and chamber music concerts in Paris (Salle Cortot and Invalides), Bourges and the festival Piano à Riom, as well as on a tour of the Middle East.”

Sodi+Braide" rel="tag">Sodi Braide
Nigerian+Pianist" rel="tag">Nigerian Pianist
African+Pianist" rel="tag">African Pianist
Black+Pianist" rel="tag">Black Pianist
classical+music" rel="tag">classical music
Franck+CD" rel="tag">Franck CD

Piano Works of Franck on CD by Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide

Sodi Braide is a 32-year-old Nigerian pianist who brought himself to our attention last year. We recently learned of his Lyrinx CD of solo piano works of César Franck, released this year, and read an online interview he gave to Agnès Jourdain of the French website PianoBleu.com When we contacted him, Sodi told us of some French reviews of the CD, and recommended the PianoBleu.com interview to us as well. One of the most compelling passages is Sodi's description of his first piano competition, in Pretoria, South Africa in 1996. He recalls that local people were amazed to see a Black pianist who played classical music. The genre had been identified as belonging to White people. Sodi has vivid memories of the impact of his presence in the finals of the competition: “It was just after the end of apartheid, and some were really thunderstruck to discover that in fact there was not a cultural barrier due to skin color!”

This post presents our English translation of several excerpts from the interview:

“Sodi Braide was born June 14, 1975 to Nigerian parents at Newcastle, U.K. His parents were academics; both were scientists but music lovers as well. 'My father is an amateur pianist (as was his father before him). Moreover, one of my two brothers plays the guitar. Each Christmas my parents organize a concert, with children's chorale, in which I participate, on the piano or in the chorale. My mother had enough musical knowledge to make the chorale work, even though she has never pursued formal music studies.'

The piano of the house naturally made a part of Sodi's world from his childhood. 'I put myself on my father's knees to amuse myself with touching it' and Sodi Braide took courses from the age of 3 years in Dublin, Ireland. The family had moved to follow his father, who was completing his studies as an agronomist. 'My parents saw that I was interested in the instrument, but my father did not want to give me lessons himself, because he was fearful of passing on his faults. He preferred that the lessons be given by a professional. So one beautiful day, they led me to the home of a woman, a tutor. I was only three years old. She didn't want to give me lessons, finding me too young. She said she could not teach the reading of the notes unless children already knew how to read words. My parents told her 'But he already knows how to read!' She would not believe it, so she gave me a book, which I read. I was a little advanced. She found that I had begun to read at the age of two and a half years. She then agreed to take me as a student.'

In December 1979, Sodi had to leave again for Nigeria. 'My father had finished his doctorate. My parents therefore returned to their work at the Ahmadu Bello University, at Zaria, in the North of Nigeria. It was very difficult to find good teachers. At the time, there was no conservatory of music in Nigeria. So these years of piano studies were a little chaotic for me. We sometimes drove up to 100 kilometers, once a week, so I could have my piano lesson. When I think back on it, I tell myself it is a miracle that I became a pianist.'

In 1987, his parents learned, by chance, of a piano competition for pianists under 25 years of age. It was organized by the Musical Society of Nigeria, with the support of the French Cultural Center, in Lagos. His parents decided to have Sodi participate. 'The first prize of the competition was a scholarship for two months of studies in France. The pianist Éric Heidsieck was on the jury, as was his wife, Tania. They were filled with enthusiasm by my playing, and supported giving me the first prize. The other members of the jury were not in agreement, and the prize was finally awarded to someone else. But Heidsieck was so furious that, upon returning to France, he did everything he was able to do so that I would be able to come to France. Finally, thanks to his recommendations, I obtained a scholarship not of two months, but of two years, renewable!'

Sodi Braide was able to perfect his musical studies: 'In arriving in France, I was 13 years old. Éric Heidsieck entrusted me to Françoise Thinat, with whom I had studied at the Conservatory of Orleans. It was the first time I followed a regular course of musical studies. Some years later, I did a great deal of work to prepare for the entrance competition at the CNSM of Paris, where I was admitted at the age of 16 years, in the class of Jacques Rouvier. But at that time, I was not yet sure of wanting to become a professional musician. I also liked the sciences and I was in my final year of science studies that year. I really decided to become a musician two months before the end of the school year, when I requested a temporary leave from classes of the CNSM to be able to pass the baccalaureate. I practically stopped playing the piano for two months, and I missed it very much. At that time I knew that my wish was music.' It was a wish he followed with success since Sodi won the First Prize of piano and of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) of Paris in the classes of Jacques Rouvier and Jean Mouillère. He was unanimously awarded the Superior Performance Diploma of the École Normale de Paris, in the class of Françoise Thinat.

Desiring to continue to perfect himself, he entered in the 3^rd cycle at the CNSM of Paris in the class of Gérard Frémy, before being admitted in the class of Dimitri Bashkirov at the Reine Sofia School of Madrid.

Sodi Braide won numerous prizes and distinctions – first of all Pretoria, South Africa (1996). 'It was my first competition. I was only 20 years old, and one of my motivations for entering it was simply the fact that my parents did not live very far away at the time. They were working at the University of Lesotho. However, I believe that I was not really conscious of the investment, of the level of preparation, which was required for such a difficult competition! I had already played one or two times in South Africa, and I remembered that most of the South Africans, at the time, had never seen seen a Black pianist of classical music, “music of the Whites”, what's more in the finals of such a competition. It was just after the end of apartheid, and some were really thunderstruck to discover that in fact there was not a cultural barrier due to skin color!'

Sodi was also the winner of the Natexis Banques Populaires from 2001 to 2004, and the winner of the international competitions of Leeds (2003) and Van Cliburn (jury discretionary prize, 2005). 'I didn't like the competitions! I found the notion of “competition” impossible to reconcile with that of “art”. However, it was good the competitions existed, and rare are the young musicians who never enter the competitions. If one decides to enter a competition, then he must try to take the good side – I often say to myself during competitions that I am not competing against the others but against myself, that the competition was an occasion to raise my level of artistic standard beyond what I had done before. All of the competitions in which I have participated have been the occasion for me to make progress as a pianist and as a musician.'

Sodi Braide presently lives in Paris and performs recitals and chamber music in France (Radio France, Salle de l'Archipel, Salle Cortot and the Chopin Festival of Bagatelle, among others) He also performs in England, the United States, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Romania and South Africa.

'The "Déclic" program of Cultures France (formerly AFAA) has been extraordinary for me. I have been able, thanks to this program, to make many tours, notably in Latin America, a continent which I adore and where I feel very well. I think the Latin Americans like me because I have been reinvited six or seven times in four years! Next autumn I am due to return there in a tour of Mexico. Thanks to these tours, I have been able to acquire an experience of the scene and a maturity that I never had before. It is not all working on the piano at home, one must also confront the public.'

He recently recorded a CD of works of César Franck. 'Franck is an amazing composer who often succeeds in reconciling simplicity and complexity in the most natural way there is. The idea of working with the Chorals transcribed by Blanche Selva came to me much later. These are very moving works, but difficult to play. They present numerous difficulties already at the organ, and this difficulty is still greater at the piano because we must come to do with our two hands that which the organists do with their hands and the pedals.'

Franck: Works for Piano, by Sodi Braide
César Franck (1822-1890), the Belgian composer who was naturalized French, was reconciled with the piano only towards the end of his life: against the wishes of his father, who had encouraged him to work on it in excessively high doses in his youth. He was more interested in the organ; however musicians did not miss the chance to transcribe for the piano writings, even late ones, which he had originally written for this other instrument.”

The website Arte.tv/fr writes:
“Jan. 9, 2007 – Romantic
César Franck Performed by Sodi Braide on Piano
Choral Prelude & Fugue FWV 21, Prelude, Fugue & Variation for Organ FWV 30 (Transcription by Harold Bauer & Sodi Braide), Three Chorales for Organ (Transcription by Blanche Selva), Prelude, Aria & Final FWV 23.

The Lyrinx company invites us to discover pianist Sodi Braide in the work of César Franck. A happy encounter and a CD which cannot be overlooked.”

Jean-Jacques Millo writes at the website Parutions.com (Posted March 13, 2007)
“In this recital devoted to the works for solo piano of Franck, Sodi Braide displays an exemplary sense of architecture. With finesse, his sensible and virtuoso playing reinvents the autumnal colors of the French composer. And for our greatest pleasure, the coherence of his program puts in evidence a customary and inspired talent.”

CDs and Concerts of Sodi Braide
DiscPlus.ch and other European websites sell the César Franck CD. The Van Cliburn Foundation Gift Shop http://shop.cliburn.org/ offers Sodi Braide's 2005 Competition CD. The pianist says: “I will be playing recitals and chamber music concerts in Paris (Salle Cortot and Invalides), Bourges and the festival Piano à Riom, as well as on a tour of the Middle East.”

+Braide" rel="tag">Sodi Braide

+Pianist" rel="tag">Nigerian Pianist

+Pianist" rel="tag">African Pianist

César Franck

Pianist" rel="tag">Black Pianist

+music" rel="tag">classical music

José Mauricio Nunes Garcia, Afro-Brazilian Composer Born Sept. 22, 1767

(With apologies to subscribers, some posts must be republished because their tags were not originally indexed by Technorati, the principal search engine for blogs.)

[Top: La Passion du Baroque Brésilien; Missa de Nossa Senhora do Carmo; José Mauricio Nunes Garcia; Association of Choral Singing; Cleofe Person de Mattos, Director; Camerata de Rio de Janeiro; Henrique Morelenbaum, Director]
[Bottom: Método de Pianoforte (1821); Portrait by José Mauricio Nunes Garcia, Jr.; Text Revised: Giulio Edoardo Draghi; Irmaos Vitale CPM 236 (2000)]

José Mauricio Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) was an Afro-Brazilian composer and organist who was the grandson of slaves. Antonio Campos Monteiro Neto is Webmaster of an extensive illustrated Brazilian Website with numerous audio samples, José Mauricio Nunes Garcia: www.geocities.com/nunes_garcia/JM_Eng.htm

The Website is bilingual, in Portuguese and English. The Webmaster has generously made his site's content available to AfriClassical.com, with the stipulation that credit be given when material at the site is used. He begins by noting that 240 works of music by José Mauricio Nunes Garcia have survived, and that early biographers estimate his total output at nearly twice that number. He continues with a dedication of the page:

Today, thanks to an extraordinary work made by Professor Cleofe Person de Mattos (1913-2002), José Mauricio is the sole composer from the Brazilian colonial period whose biography is clearly established, and his remaining works are entirely catalogued.

To her memory we dedicate this page.

José Mauricio Nunes Garcia's mother was Vitória Maria da Cruz and his father was Apolinário Nunes Garcia, a tailor. Antonio Campos Monteiro Neto says they were married in 1762. He tells us each parent was the child of a slave and a plantation owner:

Her mother was Joana Gonçalves, a slave of Simão Gonçalves, and Apolinário was son of Ana Correa do Desterro, and they both had no known fathers, that is another way to say they were both their landlord´s children.

The child was born in Rio de Janeiro on September 22, 1767. Antonio Campos Monteiro Neto tells us an aunt lived with the family and helped raise young José Mauricio after his father died in 1773. One way they aided in his development was to ask their friend Salvador José de Almeida e Faria to share his education in music with the youth. Monteiro Neto relates that some evidence indicates that José Mauricio sang in the choir of the Cathedral of Rio Janeiro as a soprano. He adds that choir members attended the Seminary of St. Jacques, where they were taught to read Music, Greek and Latin. Monteiro Neto gives further details of the youth's music education:

According to Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre, his early biographer, he had "a beautiful voice and a great musical memory"; "reproduced everything he heard", and "created melodies of his own and played the harpsichord and the guitar without ever have learned to".

In 1779, at twelve, he began to teach music. José Mauricio never had a piano or a harpsichord, and trained himself by teaching harpsichord to the society´s ladies. To learn the organ, he was assisted by some good organists in the churches.

José Mauricio completed his education in the "Royal Classes", with lectures in history, geography, latin grammar and philosophy, and rhetoric as well.

The Webmaster of the Brazilian site next recounts the process Nunes Garcia followed to be ordained as a priest in the Archdiocese, or See, of Rio de Janeiro:

At 16, José Mauricio composed the first work that came to our days: the antiphon Tota pulchra Es Maria (CPM 1) in 1783, dedicated to the Cathedral and See.

During the decade of 1780, he studied the necessary disciplines to the examinations he had to go through to be ordained a priest, and began a collaboration with the old chapel master of the See, deacon Lopes Ferreira. This would be the first step to his final goal, to be Lopes Ferreira´s successor as the See´s chapel master.

We next learn from Monteiro Neto of the compositions which established the composer as a recognized figure in the musical life of Rio de Janeiro:

In 1784, a group of musicians founded in Rio de Janeiro the brotherhood of Santa Cecília, whose objective was to regulate their professional life. José Mauricio signed the foundation act as a music teacher.

At this time he composed the following works: Litany for Our Lady in 4 voices and organ, in 1788, the anthems O Redemptor Summe Carmen and Pange Lingua, in 1789, and the works a capella "for all the Holy Week of the See" (Bradados), from those the most important is Bradados de 6ª feira maior (CPM 219), for Holy Friday, which includes the motets Crux Fidelis (CPM 205), Heu Domine (CPM 211), Popule Meus (CPM 222), Sepulto Domino (CPM 223), and Vexilla Regis (CPM 225).

In 1790 he composed an instrumental work that made him famous in Rio de Janeiro: the Funeral Symphony (CPM 230).

Antonio Campos Monteiro Neto details the requirements for ordination as a priest, and the steps by which José Mauricio satisfied them. These included a request that the bishop not hold him ineligible due to "any color defect":

He requested his ordination in 1791. The ecclesiastic career would join his religious education and his musical art, and compensate his low origin as well.

Two requisites to be ordained were: to prove the true Catholic faith from himself and from his parents, and to be free from "any colour defect". The first had been proved through research and witnessing from his parents' and grandmothers' friends on their faith. To overcome the second obstacle, he requested from the bishop to be dismissed from his "defect", in which he was successful.

In June, 1791, he began the necessary examinations.

In March, 1792, he was ordained. The last requirement, to own any asset, was gone through with the help of one of his student's father, Thomaz Gonçalves, who gave him a house at Rua das Bellas Noutes.

In the year of his ordination as a priest, we learn from Monteiro Neto, Padre (Father) José Mauricio Nunes Garcia entered a religious order, the Brotherhood of Sao Pedro dos Clerigos, located in St. Peter's Church in Rio de Janeiro. From the same source we learn that the young priest began teaching public music classes in his home in 1795, using only a single steel guitar.

Garcia had a very productive period of composition after his ordination. The death of the Chapel Master, Lopes Ferreira, in July 1797 led to the appointment of José Mauricio as his successor, we learn from Monteiro Neto, who adds that José Mauricio's membership in a Literary Society brought him into contact with a leader of the Brazilian struggle against Portuguese rule, and led him to add Brazilian popular music and folk music to his liturgical compositions.

Ensemble Turicum, based in Switzerland, has recorded music of José Mauricio Nunes Garcia, and has contributed this assessment of his career:

At the heart of the creation of Brazilian musical history, José Mauricio was considered by his contemporaries to be a peerless organist and an excellent improvisor. His first period of creativity, which ended with the arrival of the royal court from Portugal, was defined by a refined and elegant melody in the manner of Haydn and Mozart.

Events in Europe caused the Royal Family of Portugal to take refuge in Brazil in March, 1808, we learn from the Brazilian Website, and the Prince Regent Dom João brought with him leading members of the Portuguese Catholic Church. Some of them tried to have José Mauricio removed from his post because of his color. Musicians were summoned from Portugal to bring the Church music in Brazil into line with the standards of Dom João, Monteiro Neto tells us, and José Mauricio was told to concentrate on writing new works. He did so in great number.

Among the works of 1808, the account continues, was the Missa Pastoril (CPM 108). It was recorded in 1998 by the Ensemble Turicum, whose website is: www.ensembleturicum.ch We learn from Monteiro Neto that both the Queen of Portugal and Vitória Maria da Cruz, José Mauricio's mother, died on the same day, March 20, 1816. Their deaths led him to compose the two works now considered his best masterpieces:

It is not known where Vitória Maria was buried. But the sorrow of her son would be revealed in his Missa de Requiem (CPM 185) - Requiem Mass and in the Ofício dos Defuntos (CPM 186), - Officium for the Dead, requested by the Ordem Terceira do Carmo to their funeral mass in the memory of the queen. These are regarded today as his two masterpieces.

On July 4th Fortunato Mazziotti was nominated master of the Royal Chapel. This nomination was a way to make clear to José Mauricio he would work no more for the Chapel.

Monteiro Neto tells us that a Royal wedding in 1817 included a group of 16 skilled musicians from Europe, giving José Mauricio the opportunity to compose 12 Divertimenti for the ceremony. The year 1817 was also when José Mauricio Nunes Garcia composed the first Brazilian opera, Le Due Gemelle (The Two Twins). His output in 1818 included, we are told by Monteiro Neto, a Novena (CPM 67), a Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Carmel (CPM 110), a Qui Sedes and Quoniam (CPM 163) and three Motets, as well as a Mass for Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. We are further informed by Monteiro Neto that in December 1819 he conducted the first Brazilian performance of Mozart's Requiem (K 626).

The account of Monteiro Neto relates that the score of Le Due Gemelle was destroyed by fire in 1825, and that José Mauricio wrote his last work, St. Cecilia's Mass the following year. The Brazilian Webmaster says the wages of Church musicians had long been unpaid, due to financial problems, and a demand for payment was made in 1828 but was not successful. He reports that lack of money contributed to José Mauricio Nunes Garcia's loss of health, and reports that he died on April 18, 1830.

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Classical+Music" rel="tag">Classical Music
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