Michael Lu
Main image: © Ken Love / Ken Love Photography
Florence B. Price (1887-1953)
June 11, 2020
By Ellie Palmer
Lu will highlight the work of African-American composer Florence Price while also raising funds for Covid-19-related charities
20-year-old American pianist Michael Lu will give an online concert on Friday 19 June in partnership with the 5pm Series,
and will dedicate his first piece to victims of black oppression. Lu
will perform the second movement, marked Andante, from the Piano Sonata
in E minor by Florence Price, who was one of the first African-American female composers to gain national status.
Lu comments, “I feel that the music of Florence Price and many other
great African-American composers – among them George Walker, William
Grant Still and Ulysses Kay – are sadly neglected… In reality, the music
of these composers constitutes among some of the most beautiful and
important achievements of human history.
This Andante of Price that I will play is heartbreakingly beautiful.
It reminds one of Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Dvorak. Yet there is a
huge range of human emotion - sadness, despair, but also an abundance of
hopefulness. Despite going through so much discrimination throughout
her lifetime, Florence Price was able to craft masterpieces that are
unfailingly beautiful and also deeply metaphysical.
The spirit of Florence Price will inspire all of us all to become
better human beings and bring about the positive changes we need for our
world that are long overdue.”
No comments:
Post a Comment