Saturday, October 12, 2019

PrinceWilliamLiving.com: Manassas Symphony in Florence Price's Symphony No. 1

Florence B. Price (1887-1953)


Dale, Virginia

October 10, 2019

Provided by Manassas Symphony Orchestra

The Manassas Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will open its 2019-2020 season on Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Under the baton of Music Director James Villani, the concert will feature a performance of the marvelous Symphony No. 1 in E minor by American composer Florence Price.


Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra. Born in Arkansas and educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, she composed this symphony, her first of four, in 1931-32. It won the top prize in a competition for African American composers and premiered with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. She wrote numerous other pieces, including choral works, chamber music, arrangements of spirituals, and piano concerti. Her orchestral music, however, remained unpublished and rarely performed until recently.

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