So, arriving on the heels of the conspicuous renaissance of the music of Florence Price, now comes a "re-orchestration" of the Piano Concerto of Helen Hagan who was, in 1912, the first black woman graduate of Yale University.
Apparently her only extant work is this concerto (1912) which has partially survived in a two-piano arrangement - and now orchestrated by Yale alumna/composer Soomin Kim. The work will be performed at Yale (Yale Philharmonia) on October 21st, at 7:30 pm US Eastern time. There might be a streaming channel available (usually is) but no information at the moment.
This première is far from an earth-shaking event, but it does underscore, for better or worse, the blossoming attention being focused on hitherto deeply unsung African-American composers.
This première performance of the Helen Hagan Piano Concerto, with orchestration by Soomin Kim, will be streamed live at music.yale.edu/live. The pianist will be Samantha Ege, who recently recorded the two-piano version of the score on Lorelt 145.
Quote from: pianoconcerto on Tuesday 18 October 2022, 00:54This première performance of the Helen Hagan Piano Concerto, with orchestration by Soomin Kim, will be streamed live at music.yale.edu/live. The pianist will be Samantha Ege, who recently recorded the two-piano version of the score on Lorelt 145.
Many thanks for that information.
Can anyone record this, please?
I intend to try but cannot promise I'll be successful.
Thank you very much. Good luck! ;)
I tried to record this but the timings made it impossible.
I see there is a complete and I think beguiling performance of the concerto arranged (?) for two pianos (Samantha Ege & John Paul Ekin), at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr1rJ4mghqc
I did manage to record the livestream but due to the fact that no recording was allowed in the concert hall, I'm loath to place it in our downloads section. However, if anyone is interested in the recording (MP4), they can send me a PM and I can provide a download link.