Northwestern.edu: Bienen School of Music hosts Black Art Songs webinar: A recording of this webinar is available online

Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery [Left] of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University recently hosted and moderated a virtual discussion on Black art songs with Drs. Louise Toppin [Center] and Willis Patterson [Right]  from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. The event was presented as part of the Bienen School’s Tichio-Finnie Vocal Master Class Series.

A recording of this webinar is available online. https://music.northwestern.edu/davee-gallery/video/black-art-songs-webinar

This event is part of the Bienen School’s ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion activities. A forthcoming, three-part video series from the school will feature art songs and chamber music by Black composers, including Margaret Bonds (Northwestern alumna, ’33, ’34 MMus), Cecil Cohen, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Robert Lee Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Howard Swanson, and William Grant Still. Voice students will perform the art songs and musicologists and guest presenters will provide scholarly background information on the works and composers. Additionally, Bienen School faculty have been working independently as well as collaboratively in developing DEI initiatives for their studios and classrooms. All voice students are learning two songs by Black composers. Many instrumental studios are studying repertoire by BIPOC composers and compiling databases of works by these composers.