Hucknall Dispatch: Dante Quartet & Alissa Firsova in Coleridge-Taylor's 'Piano Quintet' & 'Deep River' in November

[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor]

Black History Month is observed in October in the United Kingdom, where the University of Sheffield presents Black Classical Music in October and November:

HucknallDispatch.co.uk

Saturday 10 September 2011

Films and music take classics back to black

“FOLLOWING a successful Gay Icons project of events and concerts 12 months ago, the new University of Sheffield autumn concert season, which gets under way on October 11, takes a look at Black Icons to coincide with Black History Month.”

“There has also been a full handful of highly successful black composers, their fame largely confined to the countries they were active in, including Americans Scott Joplin and William Grant Still, a Brit, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and a remarkable French contemporary of Mozart, Joseph de Bologne, otherwise known as Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges who enjoyed iconic status in France in his day.”

“The November concert, given by the Dante Quartet and pianist Alissa Firsova, takes in two works by the undervalued Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer of the once hugely popular Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, Piano Quintet Op 1 and Deep River Op 59 No 10.

“Better-known works are Dvorák’s ‘American’ Quartet, its famous second movement clearly suggesting a spiritual, and Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata, which was written for the black violinist George Bridgetower.” [Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was an Afro-British composer and conductor featured at AfriClassical.com. The Centennial of his death will be in 2012. Major observances are being planned by organizations including the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation, http://www.sctf.org.uk/. George Bridgetower (1780-1860), Scott Joplin (c. 1867-1917), William Grant Still (1895-1978) and Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) are also featured at AfriClassical.com]

Comment by email:
Thanks Bill, good to hear of a performance. Word is getting out about C-T, in no small part due to you! Best, JMW [John McLaughlin Williams]