“Coloring Book of Black Composers” by the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.
(courtesy photo)
Los Angeles Sentinel
February 7, 2019
By Brian W. Carter, Contributing Writer
Classical music has been loved and adored throughout the
world—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach and Frédéric Chopin
are just some of the great names that come to mind when one mentions
classical music. While their contributions are immeasurable, have you
ever heard of Chevalier de Saint-Georges? What about George Walker? How
about Chiquinha Gonzaga? No, well they were musical composers of Black
heritage and the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation (RBPF) is making sure the
next generation knows all about them in a fun and colorful way.
“Composers of African descent have created masterful, classical music
for centuries, yet they continue to be underrepresented in concert
programming and in classical music education,” said Rachel Barton Pine,
founder of RBPF. “This absence silences a rich vein of works from global
consciousness and obscures the true face of classical music.”
Pine was born and raised in Chicago, where she was introduced to music in church at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ.
“One day, when I was three, I heard some middle school-aged girls
playing violin as part of worship,” said Pine. “I told my parents I
wanted to play the violin and my parents eventually arranged for me to
take lessons from a teacher in the neighborhood.”
She states that the violin became her identity as she eventually
transitioned to being homeschooled, which left more time for her to
perfect her craft. She made her professional debut at the age of seven,
playing Haydn’s Violin Concerto in G Major with the Chicago String
Ensemble.
“At age 10, I had the opportunity to solo with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra,” said Pine. “Earlier that year, I had begun studying with
Roland and Almita Vamos, two prominent teachers from the Oberlin
Conservatory that maintained a pre-college studio in Chicago.
“I studied privately with the Vamoses through my late teens.”
Pine competed in a number of international competitions including the
Queen Elisabeth (Brussels, 1993), Kreisler (Vienna, 1992), Szigeti
(Budapest, 1992), and Montreal (1991) International Violin Competition
and received accolades for her interpretation of the Paganini Caprices
at both the Szigeti Competition and the 1993 Paganini International
Violin Competition in Genoa.
In 1992, she competed in the J.S. Bach International Competition in
Leipzig, Germany and became the first American and youngest violinist,
at age of 17, to win the gold medal.
“My father was often unemployed throughout my childhood,” said Pine.
“Starting in my teens, I used my earnings from music jobs to help
support my family.
“Because of this, I was never able to attend college, however, I had
the opportunity to do a lot of university-level music education during
my high school years.”
In 1997, Pine released an album, “Violin Concertos by Black Composers of the 18th and 19th
Centuries” on Cedille Records, which was a collection of historic
compositions by Afro-Caribbean and Afro-European composers from
classical and romantic eras.
“I soon found myself sitting on diversity panels and fielding
questions from students, parents, teachers, and colleagues about where
to find more works by Black composers,” said Pine.
She founded RBPF in 2001 as a charitable organization providing
services and funding for classical music education, research,
performances, and artists to benefit listeners and learners alike.
RBPF started the Music by Black Composers (MBC) project
in an effort to create curricular materials for young classical
musicians, professional performers, educators, and others. RBPF has
collected more than 900 works, spanning four centuries by more than 350
Black composers, both men and women from North America, Latin
America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe and Africa.
“The MBC coloring book is a fairly recent idea, inspired by my own
experience as a parent of a young musician,” said Pine. “There are 40
composers, 10 of whom are women.”
In this unique coloring book, youth will find the 18th Century Afro-French composer, Chevalier de Saint-Georges known as ‘The Black Mozart,’ the 19th Century Afro-Brazilian composer, Chiquinha Gonzaga, who was the first woman to conduct an orchestra in Brazil, the 20th Century African-American composer, George Walker, who was the first Black composer to win a Pulitzer, and the 21th Century African-American composer, Michael Abels, who wrote the soundtrack for the recent hit film “Get Out.”
“All of the drawing is by Dallas Symphony Orchestra violinist,
Sho-mei Pelletier, and she cleverly includes cool facts about each
composer in their image, usually hidden among their clothing,” said
Pine. “The coloring book also includes a biography of each of the 40
composers.”
In addition to “Coloring Book of Black Composers”, the
RBPF has released their first sheet music book, “Violin Volume 1,” which
is for beginner through elementary level students. It’s a collection of
22 pieces by Black men and women from the 18th-21st centuries, representing North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.
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The coloring book, as well as MBC Violin Volume 1, is available at Shar Music online:
For more information about the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation, please visit
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