In the early 1900s, Florence Price, a Black female prize-winning composer, struggled to find work and often found herself moving from place to place as a result. Black composers rarely received the same recognition as others, so when UNC students Maria Manning and Ayman Bejjani studied her work, they decided to help bring her work to life through the First Fridays Series.
Manning and Bejjani are among several student performers that will highlight music from underrepresented composers in the UNC Department of Music’s First Fridays Series, hosted on March 5 and April 9 at 12 p.m.
Manning, a first-year neuroscience and violin performance student, will be performing Price’s “String Quartet in G Major,” along with other students.
“In a field where there's a lot of white, male composers from Europe, it’s important to highlight those that are not and show how great their work is too,” Manning said.
When she first heard Price's music, Manning said she felt it was really similar to other classical music from that time and later learned composers drew inspiration from southern gospel music.
Manning said she hopes the audience will find value in connections that can be drawn from learning about different composers' history.
Student performers researched and selected pieces by underrepresented composers who are meaningful to them. They will present the pieces along with program notes about the musical works, composers and historical context.
Erin Pratt, a musicology Ph.D. candidate and mezzo-soprano, will be singing songs by composer Robert Owens in her first public online performance. Pratt is the first graduate student to perform in the series.
Pratt said Owens was an African American expatriate and piano player who fell in love with German music at a young age.
