Episode 5: Strum, Shimmer, & Shine

We mark African-American History Month with works by Black composers ranging from the Roaring 1920s to our roiling 2020s. Featuring great Heifetz Institute performances of works by Clarence Cameron White, Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price, George Walker, and 19-year-old Jaylin Vinson.

This Episode’s Playlist

Clarence Cameron White (1880 – 1960): Bandana Sketches, Op. 12
II. Lament: I’m Troubled in Mind
Zachary Mowitz, cello | Miki Sawada, piano
Virtual Performance, Heifetz Rubato Digital Concert Hall |  07.29.2020

Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981): Strum (2006) 
Borromeo String Quartet: Nicholas Kitchen, violin | Kristopher Tong, violin | Mai Motobuchi, viola | Yeesun Kim, cello
First Presbyterian Church, Staunton, VA | 07.16.2021

Jessie Montgomery: Peace (2020) 
Steven Baloue, viola | Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School, Staunton, VA | 03.25.2022

Florence Price (1887 – 1953): Fantasie Nègre No. 1 (1929) 
Jessica X. Osborne, piano
Virtual Performance, Heifetz Rubato Digital Concert Hall  | 08.01.2020

Florence Price: Piano Quintet in A minor (1937) 
IV. Scherzo. Allego
Elena Urioste, violin; Melissa White, violin | Paul Neubauer, viola | Rosemary Elliott, cello | Tom Poster, piano
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA | 07.29.2022

Jaylin Vinson: Shimmer! (2021) 
Claire Druffner, Boubacar Diallo, Michael Zyzak, Nicholas Tsang, cellos
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA | 07.22.2022

George Walker (1922 – 2018): Lyric for Strings (1946)
Borromeo String Quartet: Nicholas Kitchen, violin | Kristopher Tong, violin | Mai Motobuchi, viola | Yeesun Kim, cello
With Samuel Suggs, bass
The Heifetz Band – Young Artists of the Heifetz Institute
Great Hall, Blackburn Inn & Conference Center, Staunton, VA | 08.06.2021

Go Deeper

• Suddenly, Jessie Montgomery’s music is everywhere. Orchestras in the U.S. and overseas are opening their programs with Strum, Starburst, and Banner, vivacious pieces that incorporate vernacular and improvisatory elements while manipulating familiar textures and sonorities into something fresh and new.” Check out this profile of Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year.
• Check out the playlist put together by Nashville Classical Radio about Clarksville, TN native Clarence Cameron White, whose 1918 “Bandana Sketches” are featured in this episode, in an arrangement for cello and piano made by Heifetz alum Zachary Mowitz.
• WQXR announcer James Bennett has thoughts on Florence Price‘s Fantasie Nègre (performed in this episode by our Heifetz faculty pianist Jessica Osborne), not to mention mac’n’cheese.