Professor Nathan Holder is an author, musician and education consultant who is celebrating black women composers in a unique concert curated and inspired by his illustrated children's book, Where Are All The Black Female Composers?
Nathan Holder brings his book to life in the concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, presented by YolanDa Brown, at Birmingham Symphony Hall on 16 March 2025.
Where Are All The Black Female Composers? takes the reader on a musical journey to discover
the Black women composers from the last 150 years, including Nora Holt, Errollyn Wallen, and Florence Price to name just a few.
In an exclusive for BBC Music Magazine to mark International Women's Day, Nathan has named ten great classical music works by black female composers that you should know. Here are Nathan's choices.
Ten great works by black female composers
1. Mighty River by Errollyn Wallen
Written in 2017 to commemorate two hundred years since the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, Errollyn Wallen’s (pictured top) piece uses the symbolism of a river to reflect on the many aspects of the transatlantic slave trade. The deliberately unfinished reference to the hymn Amazing Grace serves as a reminder that, although slavery was abolished in 1807, the struggle to address and undo its lasting consequences continues has not yet reached its finale.
2. Ballad Of The Spirits by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
Gebru was born and raised in Ethiopia and devoted her life to the service of others as a nun, after surviving as a prisoner of war in 1935 during the Second Italo-Ethiopian war. After being prohibited from studying at the Royal Academy of Music, she developed her unique style which blends both blues and classical influences, offering an expressive and meditative experience.
3. Umoja: The First Day of Kwanzaa by Valerie Coleman
Meaning ‘unity’ in Swahili, Umoja was written to celebrate the first day of the African American festival Kwanzaa. Coleman’s quintet Imani Winds gives us a joyful, memorable and celebratory tune. Originally composed as a choral piece in 2002, Umoja premiered as an orchestral work in 2019, making this the first classical work written by a living African-American woman ever performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
4. 'Lullaby' from Ruby by Valerie Capers
The lyrics of Lullaby speak to something within all of us - something that needs to be protected and cared for. Having left the Juilliard School of Music as their first ever blind graduate in 1960, Capers has gone on to have a long career in both classical and jazz music. Sung by Yolanda Rhodes in conjunction with cool jazz-0inspired chords, which help to create this lilting and peaceful yet wonderfully reassuring piece.
5. Sketches in Sepia by Florence Price
The pioneering African-American composer Florence Price is now a well-known figure in classical music history, and this piece for solo piano captures her ability to craft simple yet memorable melody. In 1933, she became the first African-American woman to have a piece performed by a prominent American orchestra. Sketches in Sepia was composed in 1947, and pianist Antonio Oyarzábal helps to bring out the gospel and blues inflections in this wonderfully crafted recording.
More great works by black female composers
6. Atraente by Chiquinha Gonzaga
Published in 1881, Atraente was one of Gonzaga’s first compositions, and provides us with a historical link between improvised and composed music. Given that most enslaved peoples taken from West Africa were transported to modern day Brazil, this piece embodies the creolisation of cultures in the late 19th century, which results in a blend of influences and ideas. Not for nothing is Chiquinha Gonzaga regarded as a pioneering figure in Brazilian music.
7. The Spark Catchers by Hannah Kendall
Taking inspiration from a poem by the same name, Hannah Kendall's imagining of Lemn Sissay’s poem had its world premiere at the BBC Proms in 2017, where it was performed by the pioneering Chineke! Orchestra.
It tells the story of a group of over 1,000 courageous women in London’s east end district of Bow in the late 1880s, who went on strike demanding better pay and working conditions. Their bravery and resilience are captured amongst the backdrop of intense rhythmical sparks.
8. 'Benediction' from Montgomery Variations by Margaret Bonds
A variation of the hymn I Want Jesus To Walk With Me, Margaret Bonds’s piece cries out in earnest at points, and reverently articulates the sentiments of many Black folks in the American South during the Jim Crow era. Bonds herself was a friend of Florence Price and became the first black person to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (one of America's Big Five orchestras) in 1933.
9. Jamaican Medley by Eleanor Alberga
By drawing on her Jamaican roots and fusing European harmonic sensibilities with Caribbean rhythmic lilts, Alberga situates our ears firmly in the middle of the Atlantic. The reference to The Melodians’ Rivers of Babylon also encourages us to consider the roles of Christianity and colonialism as an important part of Jamaican history, as well as the ways in which musical traditions evolve across the diaspora.
10. 'War Zone' by Shirley J. Thompson
The third movement in Shirley J. Thompson’s symphony New Nation Rising, 'War Zone' refers to various moments of war from London’s over-1,000-year history. The dhol drums serve as a reminder of the crucial role the countries now called India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have played throughout London’s history and are woven together in a piece which slowly increases in intensity as we move through time.
