Florence B. Price (1887-1953)
Samuel Thompson
Trenton, NJ
February 17, 2019
Patrick Jones
On Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. Trenton’s Capital Philharmonic will be celebrating great African-American composers with violinist Samuel Thompson.
According to the Trenton Capital Philharmonic, Vicki and Darrell
Gatwood were preparing to renovate an abandoned house in downstate
Illinois in 2009. Vandals had ransacked the house, a fallen tree had
torn a hole in the roof, and the structure was in generally poor
condition. However, in a part of the house that was still dry, the
Gatwoods discovered piles of books, personal papers, and musical
manuscripts – one of which was the First Violin Concerto by Florence
Price, who had died in 1953.
The dilapidated house had once been her summer home and these and
other works that were thought to be lost were now found. There is no
record that this concerto, written in 1939, was ever performed, and in
the 10 years since its discovery, it has only once been performed
live–in Arkansas.
Thanks to Maestro’s diligent research to obtain this rare unpublished
manuscript, the Capital Philharmonic will give the East Coast Premiere
of this beautiful concerto. The soloist will be Samuel Thompson.
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