Additional document: (includes audio and video links, bio, narrative, recital program):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_2Ret16kAqhkJyKga60ecZrRH5rV25Hk/view?usp=sharingAbstract:
This 60-minute "Bach to Black" concert features suites by J.S. Bach (1685-1750), as well as two composers of African descent: British composer Samuel-Coleridge Taylor (1875-1912) and American composer James Lee III (b. 1975). Considering the two fields of Performance Practice and American music, this recital is representative of my current research, and is my contribution to growing discussions regarding inclusivity of underrepresented composers and diversity in Classical music. The recital will feature complete performances of J.S. Bach's English Suite no. 2 in A minor, Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Four Characteristic Waltzes for Piano, Op. 22, and James Lee III's Souls of Alkebulan (2012).
The overarching theme of all three pieces is the treatment of the dance form in the piano suite. Stemming from my passion of researching and performing J.S. Bach's keyboard works, as well as music by Black composers, it is my intent to offer a reimagining of programming piano suites from the Baroque to the present. I have always had a strong interest in both Baroque music and American music, as well as underrepresented music from different eras. When programming, I strive to bring scholars, performers, and all audiences together through celebration of our similarities and differences. In addition, I enjoy collaborating with living composers, as well as reintroducing music that is often forgotten.
Much has been discussed about the beauty, transparency, and elegance of the J.S. Bach's English Suites, and I aim to pair one of the suites which exhibit similar features to that of the two works by Coleridge-Taylor and Lee III. I have also chosen English Suite No. 2 due to similarities in key relationships with the other two compositions. Coleridge-Taylor's piece is of the 19th-century tradition, explores waltzes at different tempi, and utilizes harmonies often seen in music late-Romantic British composers. Lee III's five-movement work Souls of Alkebulan incorporates rhythms and dance from Africa with the use of Western idioms. As the composer states in the score's program notes, he "intended that Souls of Alkebulan would be a set of piano pieces that would display imagined African rhythms and memories from Africa’s past. Alkebulan is the indigenous name for the continent of Africa."
