Fantasie Nègre: The Piano Music of Florence Price

Samantha Ege has dedicated her life to ‘illuminating the diversity of classical music’s past, present, and future’. Here she champions three remarkable composers that history almost left behind.

Florence Price and Margaret Bonds were part of the Black Chicago Renaissance of the 1930s and 40s: a melting pot of inspiration that brought about an era of change, where European forms met the melodies of spirituals, harmonies of blues and rhythms of jazz. At the same time in the then Austria-Hungary, Vítězslava Kaprálová became the first woman to graduate from the Brno Conservatory, and her rich and majestic Sonata Appassionata draws on the region’s rich heritage of folk-like themes.

These works should have been championed much earlier, but Ege is proud to be doing so now. ‘Fantasie Nègre is my realisation of a history that I have longed for, and to which I now belong. For me, it has been quite a journey with Price’s music giving inspiration and courage along the way. My hope now is that this glorious repertoire may do the same for you.’

This performance will finish at approximately 9.15pm, including a 20 minute interval.

Produced by the Barbican

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Pre-concert talk 6.30pm

Aaliyah Booker (University of Oxford) discusses the life and works of Price, Bonds and Kaprálová. Free to ticket-holders.

Digital Programme

Digital Programme - Fantasie Nègre: The Piano Music of Florence Price

Elizabeth de Brito sits down with Samantha Ege to talk about tonight's thrilling programme, and her ground-breaking work championing Black female composers.

Read the programme