Following her acclaimed 2021 album rediscovering Florence Price’s four Fantasie Nègres, musicologist and pianist Dr Samantha Ege recorded an album of forgotten piano music last month by five trailblazing yet overshadowed women composer-pianists of the Black Chicago Renaissance, including the first recording of the sole surviving work by Helen Eugenia Hagan. The project has been awarded the American Musicological Society’s prestigious Noah Greenberg Award, and will be launched in March 2022 on the LORELT label, dedicated to recording work by important and neglected composers.
Ege and pianist John Paul Ekins headed to the studio on 29 December 2021 to create the first recordings of the piano concertos by Hagan and Florence Price in the two-piano arrangements that are testament to the supportive culture that allowed these remarkable composers to have their works performed and distributed. The music of all five composers remains seriously underrepresented on disc.
Dr Samantha Ege said: “I am excited to bring the voices of Bonds, Hagan, Holt, King and Price together and for listeners to learn more about the incredible Black Renaissance era through their music.”
The recording is set to be released in March 2022. Find out more on Dr Samantha Ege's website.
