Greater Bentonville Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on Feb. 7.
Florence Beatrice Price, of Little Rock, is the first African-American female composer to have a symphonic composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra. Smith received her formal education in piano and organ at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, which was a notable achievement for a black woman in 1907. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony in E Minor on June 15, 1933, under the direction of Frederick Stock. The work was later performed at the Chicago World’s Fair as part of the Century of Progress Exhibition. The orchestras of Detroit, Michigan; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Brooklyn, New York, also performed symphonic works by Price. Renowned contralto Marian Anderson featured Price’s spiritual arrangement “My Soul’s Been Anchored in de Lord” in her famous performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. In her lifetime, Price composed more than 300 works, ranging from small teaching pieces for the piano to large-scale compositions such as symphonies and concertos, as well as instrumental chamber music, vocal compositions, and music for radio.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Greater Bentonville Chamber of Commerce
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