[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the season four finale of Salon era. My name is Hannah Dupriest and for the past four seasons I've played more of a behind the scenes role on the show. I've stepped in front of the camera a few times as an episode guest, but mostly I've worked as the late Elise communications and special projects manager. I'm thrilled to be hosting my first episode today, Gilded Age Chicago.
This episode focuses on the extraordinary lives and music of two black women who called Chicago home in the early part of the 20th century. Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.
Our three guests for this episode will speak so beautifully and movingly about their connection to Florence Price and Margaret Bonds and why their music is important to them.
I was so thrilled and honored to speak with doctor Samantha Ega, a musicologist and pianist doctor Christine Jobson, a soprano and entrepreneur in New York City, and soprano Michelle Kennedy, a longtime friend of the show for gilded Age Chicago. I hope you enjoy.
Welcome to Solanira. Today, Deborah has handed over the hosting duties to me because we are talking about Chicago, which is where I live. And I really wanted to do an episode about this city that I think has an incredible musical history. Today we're focusing on the early 20th century in Chicago, specifically, specifically the world and life of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. And I am thrilled to have fantastic guests to talk with me about this and to share performances, starting with Doctor Samantha Egge. So, Samantha, welcome to Solanira.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Thank you. It's such an honor to join you, and I'm really looking forward to our conversations.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Thank you so much. So I think it's fair to say that Florence Price's music makes up a cornerstone of your professional artistic life.
Can you tell me how you first got introduced to her music?
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Florence Price is a huge part of what I do. And really, the way that I came across her name, you know, I could never have imagined that she would change my entire life. I was an undergraduate exchange student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and my professor, Professor Lisa Bagh, had a course called early 20th century music. And there were all sorts of names on there. Nadia and Lilly Boulanger, that was one week. Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, that was another week. And the name Florence Price didn't particularly stand out to me because I had no idea who she was. But I remember listening to the music that was allocated to that particular part of the syllabus. And that piece, particular piece was her fantasy neg one in e minor, which was performed by Helen Walker Hill. And I remember just as a student in my bedroom feeling that the world had stopped when I heard that piece, and just being so drawn in by Price's musical language. So that was 2009, and it's taken a while, but I found a way to really make her such an important part of what I do. And it's so incredible to be on this journey, because she has really changed my life.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: That's so wonderful to hear. I would love to hear a little bit more about what you think of Price's music, speaking as a pianist.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Well, she's such a romantic, and I mean that in the sort of emotional and sentimental sense, but also in the aesthetic sense sense. You know, she. She really knows the instrument from that 19th century germanic, you know, romantic perspective. So.
And I really enjoy playing music of that style. So I really love the. The virtuosic flourishes and the gestures and the use of melody and these, you know, the warm and dense harmonic textures. But I think. I mean, and this is what drew me to Florence Price. There was that sense of the familiar in terms of her classical music language, but then there was also the sense of something that was new to me, and that was her use of the spirituals, her use of african american folk music. And I think that was such a revelation to experience something new in the classical tradition, because we don't always get to sort of experience that we're, you know, these histories are perpetuated. So to feel that I am learning something completely new and able to sort of understand the classical tradition in a completely new light was just really eye opening for me. So I love how she pays tribute to the past, but she's also advancing tradition with all of the insight and the innovation that she brings. And my friend, fellow Florence Price scholar, A. Corrie Hill, writes brilliantly on that area.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Well, that was such a fantastic introduction to the first piece that we're going to hear, Florence Price's fantasy neg four in b minor from a cd recording. Just before we listen, though, one of the things that I, from what you just said, this idea of marrying this really, this late romantic, pianistic way of writing with these african american spirituals, it's a project that, to me, sounds a lot like Dvorak. And I was just wondering, is there a real connection between those two projects in your mind, too?
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Well, I think a person like Dvorak, he really sort of brings this notion to the forefront of mainstream attention. But I think we see these conversations today where it might take a prominent white american or european to sort of make known something that has been going on for such a long time. So, I mean, Harry T. Burley was someone who introduced Borjack to the spirituals, and he was a mentor to Florence Price. And so I think that Vorciak sort of gives a sort of green light. He sort of validates, you know, he gives that public validation.
But I think that Florence Price is delving deeper and connecting with a long history of black classical composers who were doing this before Dvorak.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Samantha, for that recording.
You have a book coming out this autumn through the University of Illinois Press, and it is called Southside impresario's how race women transformed Chicago's classical music scene. In it, of course, I'm sure you talk about Florence Bryce, but you also talk about this community of artists and colleagues that were active at the same time. Can you tell us a little bit about your book and who else you are talking about in it?
[00:17:26] Speaker B: I'm really excited to talk about this book. So I guess I'm telling the story of Florence Price that I think we need to know. So we know that she was the first black woman to have a symphony performed by a major national orchestra. But I think what we generally don't know is how that happened. So this is the story of the behind the scenes work that took place. And there's a whole cast of really lively and exciting characters. There's a woman called Maude Roberts George, who underwrote the contract with the Chicago Symphony in order for Florence Price's premiere to take place. There's Margaret Bonds, who is a daughter of the black Chicago renaissance. And her mother, Estella Bonds, was one of the first local black musicians in Chicago to help launch Florence Price's career. And when Price had, you know, moments of financial difficulty and personal trouble, she stayed with the Bonds family. There's also the fabulous Nora Holt, who is the first black person in the United States to get a master of music degree. She also went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. She used to hang out in the clubs with Josephine Baker. And she's a composer and she's a critic, and she's everything, basically a real renaissance woman. And so you get a real sense of how multifaceted this community was, and you get a real sense of Florence Price belonging to a sisterhood. And it's just been such a joy to write.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: That sounds fantastic. Well, everyone can, can look out for that. Coming out. Can you talk to us a little bit more about Margaret Bonds? We're going to hear in a few minutes you performed some of her music and I'd love to hear a little bit more about her.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Yes. So Margaret Bond is a later generation, then, compared to Florence Price. And so Florence Price's generation, they are, I guess, a little bit more conservative in a way, and they play more into the politics of respectability.
Margaret Bonds generation is a bit more outspoken, and she really becomes quite a strong voice in the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. But what's really fascinating about her childhood is that she is immersed in the black Chicago renaissance, and especially because her house is this hub for every prominent black musician, politician, you know, public facing figure will pass through Margaret Bonds home. So she's absorbing all of that energy. And as I'm sure you can imagine, what that must do for a black child's self esteem, you know, to see all of that excellence in her front room.
So she's a phenomenal pianist, composer, and I think she really sort of advances some of the musical ideas that we hear with Florence Price. Margaret Bonds tends to lean a little bit more into jazz and blues influences. You can definitely hear that in her.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Music, and her music is phenomenal.
And we're going to hear the bells from Margaret Bond's spiritual suite, in which each movement takes a different african american spiritual and writes it brilliantly for solo piano. And when I first saw this track listing the bells, my mind immediately went to all the other bell sort of songs that I know for piano. And I thought, oh, this reminds me of, like, maybe it's like ravels, le Cloche. And then I clicked play on the track, and I was just like, my mind was completely blown because it was like she was calling up Le Cloche pretty specifically and then doing something so much more creative. And so just like, spine tingling, because you start with this, like, you hear these pentatonic scales just to say revels. Les Cloche was inspired by the javanese gamelan. And in the beginning of Margaret Bonds, the bells, you hear the pentatonic scales, you hear this ethereal sound world that she builds. And then Peter Gohringden bells comes in, in this just incredible way. And I just, it was one of those moments that makes you think, like, I have to learn more about this person because this is so enjoyable to listen to, but it's also, like, self conscious in a way. I don't know how else to describe it. Is that something that you relate to?
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Yes. And the thing is, you know, as you're saying that, it's reminding me of one of Margaret Bonds anecdotes where she said she wanted to study with Nadia Boulanger. And Boulanger essentially told her, you already have a fully formed voice. You know, she didn't, Boulanger, of all people, didn't really know what to do with bonds because Bonds was so sure of herself. And that's exactly what you're describing.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Thank you again for that performance, Doctor Eghe. And now it is my pleasure to welcome Doctor Christine Jobson to the chat.
Christine is a soprano, an educator, and an entrepreneur living in New York City. She has performed all over the world, and she has also, like Doctor Ege, made Florence Price a big priority in her artistic life. Her doctoral dissertation was focused on Price, and she also has a phenomenal album of Price's art songs called nearly lost.
Christine, thanks for speaking with us and sharing your music with us today.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: You're welcome. And thank you so much for having me.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: So, Christine, I'd love to start with the same question that I asked Samantha, which was, how did you first get to know about Florence Price?
[00:26:58] Speaker C: So as an undergrad student at Oakwood University, which is a historically black college university, I learned about Florence Price. I learned about Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King, lots of black female composers, as well as black male composers. And I also learned about the traditional white, male european composers that one would typically learn about in a classical music education, higher learning. And it wasn't until later that I realized that my experience was a bit unique because that was not everyone's experience to have the privilege to learn about a diverse group of composers. So I learned about Florence Price and didn't quite understand the impact of this woman that I was learning about as a young student. But as I kind of climbed the ladder, learned more, attended graduate school, that's when I started to turn my attention to her even more specifically.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: So when you were an undergrad student, this was just like part of the curriculum baked in. It's not like, oh, we have this one semester where we talk about black composers. It was just a through line.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: Through your whole education, it was just a through line. And, you know, as a singer, my voice teacher would present different art songs and or arias to learn, and these were just the people that we learned about. And so it didn't seem particularly special at the time. But I'm really thankful that I attended a school that allowed me to learn about these diverse groups of composers as equals.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Absolutely. So can we fast forward just a tiny bit to your doctoral dissertation?
Can you tell us a little bit about that dissertation and then how that kind of fed into your album project?
[00:28:55] Speaker C: I started the journey by focusing my research on african american art songs in general. But then as I began to narrow down my options, I kind of landed on wanting to focus on a black woman. I wanted to focus on someone who looked like me, or at least had similar experiences. I started looking at Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King, et cetera, et cetera. But what kind of allowed me the space or the excitement to focus on Florence Price is that I discovered an article in the New Yorker that talked about how in 2009, there was a discovery of art songs, of orchestral pieces, entries into her diary. And all of these pieces of information came from Florence Price. So what happened is that a young couple was looking to renovate a summer home. And as they began kind of looking through the debris, essentially, of what was in that home, they discovered a pile of papers. And these papers were beautiful gems of music that Florence Price wrote that really could have been thrown away. And so I entitled my project nearly lost, the album that I eventually recorded nearly lost, because had this young couple just toss these items into the trash, we literally wouldn't have these songs to hear, to enjoy, to study. And so I'm thankful for that couple, for having the mindset of, you know what? Let me do a little bit of searching. And they literally did a Google search, discovered Florence Price, and decided to turn these documents over to the University of Arkansas library. And as a doctoral student, I was able to. Able to take a trip to the University of Arkansas special collections. And that's where I was able to put my hands on these scores, look through them. They're in Florence prices like handwriting. So it's just, it made me feel so connected to Florence price to actually handle the documents that she wrote on not a copy. So it was pretty exciting for me as a student.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: I got goosebumps when you were telling that story, because I relate to it so much, this idea that in dusty addicts are all of these things that they can become unearthed, and they are. They're precious, and they're waiting there for people to sort of reach out and touch them and engage with them. So thank you so much for all the work that you have done. We're going to sample now a little bit from your album. We're gonna first hear this song spring. Can you tell us a little bit about it and why you wanted to share it with our audience today?
[00:31:54] Speaker C: Absolutely. So I decided to share spring because it's one of Florence Price's art songs, where she actually wrote the text herself. And so in this text, we hear a pretty florid description of spring as the name suggests. And I also love this piece because to my ear, the piano accompaniment is an equal partner with the melody, with the text in telling the story. And you can actually hear the blooming of things growing in springtime, not just in the vocal line, but in how the piano part is written as well. So I thought this would be a wonderful piece to share and also to say that this piece, the text, is important. Right. And as a singer, sometimes we find difficulty in articulating text, depending on the Tessa Torah that the piece lies in. And so this one is a bit tricky because the Tessa Torah, or the range is a little bit high. But I tried to do my best to articulate the text so that it could be understood when I'm singing. So I hope that you enjoy it.
[00:33:11] Speaker D: There are promise and pleasure and hope in in the spring that reckon that reckon the future I know the border between the wonderland the darker light.
[00:33:34] Speaker C: In.
[00:33:34] Speaker D: A dream of its dusty there I love it magic and joy in the spring that's captured in my heart I know I live on the breeze when it stops by the trees which are for me weep like a thrush at leave a song of ecstasy and fill me I know life ended to me I to give and to feel the. That can make the heart that can break with a pain of.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Christine. That song is so great.
I would also just now like to.
[00:34:57] Speaker E: To.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: We have two brilliant women in the room, and I'd love for you guys to have a chance to sort of speak together, and I'd love to hear a little bit about, from both of you. And just about beyond just getting more ears listening to Florence Price's music, which is a huge and important and noble mission. But beyond that, what is your hope with programming and writing about price? Are there ways in which you hope that that changes the landscape of classical music?
[00:35:34] Speaker C: Absolutely. So I'll start by saying that it is a privilege to be in this space with Doctor egg. You are a person that I've, you know, I've seen your name online, I've seen your work, and I know that you're a fellow Florence Price scholar. So I'm excited to be in this virtual space with you, and I'm excited about all that you're creating and producing right now. Hello. Even though we've been speaking for a little while, but hello, and it's so.
[00:36:00] Speaker E: Nice to meet you.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: It's amazing. Yeah. To be here to share this space with you and just to hear, you know, the parallels and the differences, you know, along our journeys. With Florence Price.
But it's so amazing that whenever I meet or come across the work of other people who perform Florence Price, they tend to be scholars as well. You know, as Doctor Christine Jobson is, she has spent time doing the research, you know, going into the archives, looking at Price's handwritten scores, and it just makes such a difference in the quality of the performances. So thank you for everything that you do, especially, you know, to elevate and make people aware of Price's contributions, you know? Yeah.
[00:36:46] Speaker C: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. So, Hannah, to get back to your question, when I think about Florence Price and the impact she's had on me, in particular, I think of her as an advocate, and I am inspired by that.
Florence Price had to advocate for herself, and it has inspired me to advocate for myself as a black woman and for others like me and for other people who are from marginalized communities. And when we look at what Florence Price accomplished in a time where, you know, she had what she referred to as two handicaps against her, in the. In the famous letter that she wrote to Kusavetsky, she. She mentions that she's both black and she's female. And then she goes on to say, well, can you put those things to the side and just listen to my music and just examine my scores? And it took guts to do that in a time where women were largely dependent on others, particularly on men, to provide support, financially and otherwise. So here she is building a career as a composer, as a black woman in that time period. It's just. It's remarkable, and it pushes me and it gives me courage so that today, in 2024, I can advocate for myself and for others unapologetically, as Florence Price did.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really just so affirming to hear, because when I learned about Florence Price, I was in Montreal, and then I'm. As you can tell from the accent, I'm from the UK. And then as I was pursuing my PhD on Florence Price, I was living in Singapore. So I've always been quite disconnected geographically from the kinds of communities that you need to sustain a career. And writing my book, what has come to the fore is how much price needed community. She could not wait on the white mainstream to recognize her talent. And that really intersects with. With what Doctor Jobson is saying about being your own advocate and fully understanding what you're up against in terms of the systems that we're under, but persevering nonetheless. And I'm really thankful that as I've pursued themes of community and sisterhood. In my research that has become increasingly apparent in my own personal and professional life. I'm really thankful for those in my network, in my community that have supported my recordings, have supported me as a pianist, have supported my writings, my research, this book that's coming out, I could not have done that without my community. And so I think Florence Price really gives us a blueprint for how to thrive as black women in classical music.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: Thank you both so much. Next, we're going to listen to one more track from Christine's album.
And again, this is an album titled nearly lost, and you can find it on all streaming platforms.
[00:40:13] Speaker C: So I am excited about sharing thou art to my loved one. It's actually one of my absolute favorite Florence price art songs, and I love it in particular because of the accompaniment. It involves both a pianist and a cellist along with the voice. And so hearing those instruments, working in partnership with the storytelling is quite beautiful and it's quite lovely and lush. We don't know who wrote the text, but it's also quite beautiful and it kind of paints this picture of someone talking about their loved one. And again, all of nature is attesting to the beauty of their loved one. So I hope that you'll enjoy this one as much as I enjoy it as well.
[00:41:46] Speaker D: And bring it in a crimson holy perfume among the tenders of my.
[00:42:58] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much for both being here. I'd love to end today's segment with just asking what's going on in your artistic life that is exciting you right now.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Well, as you mentioned, Hannah, there's my book that's coming out, Southside impresarios how race women transformed Chicago's classical music scene, and that will be out this fall. And I'm also really excited to share that I have commissioned a piece of music that is based on the book. It's called Bravura by the afro cuban composer Camilla Coutinabeo, and it has a Florence price theme and a Margaret Bonds theme, and all the themes of sisterhood that are in my book are reenacted through this collaboration. So I'm excited to share new music alongside this forthcoming book.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: That sounds fantastic.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: Wow.
Yes. I was just going to co sign to say that is really exciting and I can't wait to check those out.
I will also share you've heard about my album nearly lost a few times at this point, but in addition, there is my album by faith, which is a collection of hymns and negro spirituals arranged by me and a few of my dear friends. So I hope that you'll check that out. Also available on all streaming platforms. And then one of my favorite things is Lily's first trip to the opera, which is a book I wrote for your little ones, just talking about a little child and in this case, a little black girl's first trip and first experience with opera. And it's really fun and contains vocabulary words to familiarize your little ones with some of the terms that are related to opera. And for additional reading and information, I would highly recommend Doctor Rae Linda Brown's the Heart of a Woman Doctor Rae Linda Brown is a very important Florence Price scholar who passed away, I believe, in 2017, not long after I watched her being honored at the African American alliance conference. And I am indebted to her for the groundwork she did many, many years ago, long before this rebirth of excitement about Florence Price. Doctor Rae Linda Brown kind of got, got the ball rolling in terms of attention and study with Florence Price. And so I want to call her name and honor her and to invite you to get her book, which is available online.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Thank you so much for that recommendation. I'm so inspired by both of you and your multifaceted, fascinating projects and just the heart and the rigor that you bring to all that you do. So thank you again for joining me and for being part of the salon era community.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: Thank you for this invitation.
[00:45:52] Speaker C: Yes, thank you for having me.
[00:45:54] Speaker F: Thanks for watching this episode of Solanira. This series is a production of Les de Lys, made possible by donations from viewers like you. You can support Solanira with a dollar 15 donation at the link in the video description, or become a member with a one time donation of dollar 125, and receive members only newsletters with bonus content and access to all the video episodes from previous seasons. Thanks for your support.
[00:46:36] Speaker D: She's got the whole world in her hands she's got the whole world in her hands she's got the whole world in her hands she's got the whole world in her hand she's got the woods and the water the water is in her hand she's got the wood and the water's in her hand she's got the sword and the moon right in her hand she's got the whole world in hand she's got the birds on the beach right in her head she's got the birds and the bees right in her head she's got the beast over the field right in her head she's got the holy.
She's good news she's got, she's got the.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: All right welcome to Michelle Kennedy. We just heard a beautiful performance that you shared with us of she's got the whole world in her hands by Margaret Bonds, which was recorded as part of your album, in her hands with Agave Baroque. So this is an album that gets. Spans centuries, really, of music written by women composers.
So Margaret Bonds and Florence Price kind of come at the tail end, but as you said, you have music from, I guess, like the Renaissance, really, through the high baroque, and then Clara Schumann kind of representing the classical era and romantic era as well. It's really an incredible feat. And I just, I wonder how did this kind of collaboration with agave Baroque, who's kind of, they're kind of known for this sort of maybe genre defying is a bit, is a bit much, but this sort of really creative, I'd say, really inspired programming. How did this come about?
[00:49:31] Speaker E: I think that the song selections by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds form in some ways the foundation, the emotional and formal foundations for the album. And it's in part just because of their versatility and mastery.
Each of them, they're writing for keyboard, they're writing for voice. And the elegance with which their keyboard writing translates into strings is like this sort of, like, undergirding theme in the album. And I think that their friendship also moves me quite a bit when I think about this album is like, it's sort of a dialogue between these two brilliant women who face so much adversity and hardship in their lifetime and found some refuge in their friendship with each other. And there's something powerful about celebrating that relationship. I do think that the sisterhood and the circle of black artistry in which bonds and price sort of came into the peak of their careers, both in Chicago and in New York, were really pivotal for both of them, particularly for Price, who, you know, was the daughter of the great migration. She loved her native little rock and returned there, you know, after her prestigious education at NEC to teach to become a music educator like her mother had been. And I think it's because she really loved the place. She loved the community, but felt called to points north, as so many black creative folk and black folks in general did in the antebellum south and after. And I think that she was looking for her surrogate family in Chicago, and she found it in bonds. She found it and so many of her poet friends who she championed through her art song settings. And she found it, I think she found some refuge there.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: We're about to hear, Michelle, you sing this song by Florence Price to my little son which I understand has a great deal of personal significance to you because of your connection you feel to the composer. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
[00:51:42] Speaker E: Yes. Yes.
Florence Price, she's just such a multifaceted master. Her writing for keyboard, her writing for voice, her mastery of form. It's like she takes you on a whole trip around the universe in two minutes with each of her songs, they're just like these little miniature vignettes, and they're just so emotionally rich. And I think this one I fell in love with upon first hearing. I just love it. I love its intimacy. I think I also feel this deep connection with Florence price on a couple of different levels, Henry. And I like to say that she.
She was intersectional before that was even a thing, is she has this, like, fascinating background, interracial parenting, interracial origins. Like myself, she was a very devoted mother.
Loved, loved, loved her daughters. And I think that her sensibility as a mother comes through so vividly and poignantly in this particular song, this sense that you love your little person with your entire being, and you see them grow and you let them go, and there's this, like, heart tug that you're always gonna feel because of how much you love them and how bittersweet it is to see them go off and live their life.
[00:53:12] Speaker D: In your face. I sometimes see hash ones of the night to be hash of what my son shall be dream of what my hash manhood grown and o manhood, ways unknown and shall I wistful try to train sing the child you once were your face.
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Thank you, Michelle, for another absolutely beautiful performance that also featured Henry Labadensky on piano.
So in addition to, as you said, music for piano and voice, baroque music with baroque instruments, this album also has arrangements of 20th and 21st century songs for baroque strings. And I just. I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit about why this approach of an early music band kind of taking on repertoire that falls outside of maybe its usual remit?
Why is this approach something that you feel called to champion?
[00:55:34] Speaker E: Part of it is the lure of the soundscape.
I think that the timbre of baroque instruments is quite particular and something that we, as early music specialists, are very familiar with, but I think the general public is not, I think, more broadly. And it's a terrific question that.
[00:55:56] Speaker B: The.
[00:55:57] Speaker E: Definition of early music that sort of prevails needs re examining. I think the agave players would agree with me that there's often an overly narrow conception of what early music means, what the roots of the forms are. And I do think that this cross pollination of, for example, in the bonds, the opening selection, she's got the whole world in her hands. The intersection of hymnody with even some sort of gospel esque influences, lots of different stylistic forms, kind of in dialogue.
When we talk about the roots of american music in particular, we're talking about this intersection of forms and this dialogue across genres and a much more, I think, culturally inclusive notion of early music and its roots. Thank is the prevailing perception of it. So part of it is revisiting what early music is, who belongs, who's part of the conversation. And I think this album insists that each of these brilliant women should have a seat at the table and a very visible one at that, and that this conversation, across centuries and forms by necessity, should include each of their backgrounds and each of ours, too.
[00:57:21] Speaker A: So it's a way of you're calling for a change, definitely in how we program, but also maybe how we teach, how we teach early music and how we prepare young musicians.
That's also a theme that's kind of come up again throughout this episode, and I think it's a really powerful one.
The three women I've interviewed for this episode are three incredible scholars, each of them also acclaimed musicians in their own fields. And it's been incredibly inspiring to speak with each of you and just thank you so much for sharing your perspective with us and your music, which is beautiful.
[00:58:05] Speaker E: Thank you. It's a total pleasure.
[00:59:31] Speaker C: Sa.
[01:03:29] Speaker F: I hope you're enjoying this episode, which marks the season finale of Solanera's fourth season. Together we've looked to the heavens in celestial soundtrack, investigated the shipwreck of Henry VIII's favorite ship, the Mary Rose, explored themes of community and belonging in songs for social justice, revisited the timeless myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, gone inside the Goldbergs with harpsichordist Mark Edwards, and most recently highlighted the life and music of Charles Ignatius Sancho in Sancho's songbook.
We also released four exclusive podcast episodes on the Solan era podcast. It's been a remarkable journey and we're so glad that you've been along for the ride. If you missed any of these episodes or want to relive your favorites, please keep in mind the full video episodes from season four will be available through the end of June 2024. You can find all the episodes on Ladelisa's YouTube channel and on the episode
[email protected].
[01:04:40] Speaker G: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Solon era. This episode was created by me, Hannah Dupriest scriptwriter and special projects manager, executive producer Deborah Nagy and associate producer Shelby Yeaman. This episode featured recorded performances of works by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds by our guests, we were grateful for the opportunity to talk with musicologist and pianist doctor Samantha Egay, soprano doctor Christine Jobs, and soprano Michelle Kennedy. Support for Solan Era comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, Cuyahoga Arts and culture, the Ohio Arts Council, and audience members like you, Solan Era's season sponsors are Deborah Malamud, Tom and Marilyn McLaughlin, Greg Nosen and Brandon Rood, and Joseph Sopko and Betsy McIntyre.
A filmed version of this episode is available to Salon Era members. Visit solanira.org to get full performance details and learn more about the music and information shared in this and any episode. Please subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
[01:05:42] Speaker A: It really helps the show.
