Program Notes

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Florence Price, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, was guided by her music teacher mother in her early musical training. Educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, Price was active in Chicago from 1927 until her death in 1953. She was the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer; in 1933 her Symphony No. 1 was premiered by The Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Price composed over 300 scores, including four symphonies and four concertos, as well as choral works, art songs, chamber music, and music for solo instruments. In 2009, a substantial collection of her works and papers was found in an abandoned house on the outskirts of St. Anne, Illinois, which Price had used as a summer home.

          Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (1940 to 1950): Published posthumously, this setting for piano solo is vivid in its energetic, battle-like tone. The piece's stylistic progression might also reflect the intensification and climax of the biblical tale. As laid out in the Book of Joshua, God directed that the Israelites march in silence around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days, then march seven times around the walls on the seventh day, after which they were to blow their horns and shout — whereupon the walls of the city collapsed. Price musically mirrors this intensification, all voices joining together in the climactic last bars.

George Walker, born in Washington, DC, was an iconic figure among Black American classical composers. His father came from Jamaica to the United States, where he graduated and became a physician. Walker's mother supervised her son's first piano lessons when he was five years old. At the age of 15 he was admitted as a scholarship student to Oberlin College, where he studied piano and organ. Graduating at 18 from with the highest honors in his class, he was admitted to The Curtis Institute of Music, where he graduated with diplomas in piano and composition. During his career, Walker wrote over 90 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, strings, voice, organ, clarinet, guitar, brass, woodwinds, and chorus. These have been performed around the world, and much recorded. In April 2000, Walker was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Library of Congress. Walker achieved many “firsts” in classical music, not least of which was in 1996 being the first Black composer to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Music.

          Piano Sonata No. 1 (1953): The second movement is a beautifully crafted Theme and Variations. It is notable for its ingenious use of the traditional folk tune Bury Me Beneath the Willow as its musical foundation. Walker strips away the lively, upbeat nature of the original song and instead highlights its inherent melancholy. He then subjects the simple melody to a series of distinct transformations. Each variation serves to contrast the original theme through changes in texture, rhythm, and mood. The incorporation of an American folk song into a strictly classical framework demonstrates Walker’s skill in bridging diverse musical traditions. 

Robert Nathaniel Dett was a trailblazing African Canadian-American composer, pianist, and educator. He was the first Black American to graduate from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1908) and is celebrated as one of the earliest composers to successfully elevate Black folk idioms into formal European classical and choral music.

          Eight Bible Vignettes (1941–1943) is one of the final and most spiritually profound piano suites by Dett. The eight-part collection blends Dett's signature Romantic classical style with deeply emotional, biblical narratives.

          As His Own Soul: Draws on the deep, loyal friendship of David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:1), featuring flowing counterpoint and passionate melodies. 

          I Am the True Vine: A lush, reflective meditation inspired by the words of Jesus in John, Chapter 15.

Julius Eastman studied piano at Ithaca College in New York, followed by performance and composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Subsequently he contributed to new music scenes in New York, Buffalo, and Chicago, both touring and recording. He worked in a variety of musical styles, including classical, jazz, and crossover. He was among the first to experimentally use the processes of minimalism in his work. 

          Touch Him When (1970) is avant-garde and minimalist. Originally scored for piano four-hands, the piece explores intimacy, repetition, and acoustic tension through slowly unfolding musical gestures and striking intervals. The original sheet music for the composition was lost, leaving behind only a 1984 live performance recording by Eastman and Steve Marrow. Because Eastman’s compositional approach relied on an "organic music" concept—where material builds gradually by repeating and altering chords—performers have often transcribed and interpreted Touch Him When by ear. The piano duo HOCKET relied on a meticulous transcription of the surviving recording to bring a commercially available score back to audiences. 

Judd Greenstein studied music composition at the Yale School of Music (Master of Music) and Princeton University. He is an American composer of contemporary classical music, and an avid promoter of new music in New York City. He is also a co-director of New Amsterdam Records.

          First Ballade (2008) bridges Greenstein’s classical training with a pop-urban, beat-oriented sensibility. Originally composed as a wedding gift for musicologist Erica Scheinberg, the piece is an intimate, narrative-driven exploration of the piano's expressive capabilities. Greenstein doesn't use direct musical quotations, but the piece possesses a distinctly referential feel. It pays homage to several of his favorite composers, blending the sweeping arcs of Frédéric Chopin and Johannes Brahms with structural nods to J.S. Bach and Maurice Ravel. 

Fred Hersch is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 17-time Grammy nominee. He  formally studied jazz piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City, and has written and recorded more than 75 original compositions.

          Nocturne for the Left Hand Alone (2004) is the first movement of Hersch's Three Character Studies. The piece pays tribute to Chopin and Scriabin and is dedicated to Hersch's longtime piano teacher, Sophia Rosoff. It explores quiet, veiled harmonies and rolling arpeggios that mimic the gentle night.

Jeremy Ajani Jordan was born into a musical family in Chicago, with his parents as his first instructors. They provided a strong foundation of classical musical training, and also encouraged his study of improvised music and composition. Jordan burst onto the public scene at age nine with a live televised performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, quickly establishing himself as a prodigy. He eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School on prestigious Van Cliburn and Irene Diamond scholarships. Jordan has performed across the United States and Europe at iconic venues like Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and the Rudolfinum in Prague. As a composer, his prolific output spans solo piano, chamber, orchestral, and electronic music. Notably, his acclaimed album For Flint featured original jazz compositions dedicated to raising money for families affected by the Flint Water Crisis. Today, Jordan remains a versatile creative force, seamlessly bridging the worlds of jazz and contemporary classical music. Jordan is winner of several prestigious awards including the Chicago Jazz Institute and Steinway Piano Competitions, as well as prizes from the National Association of Negro Musicians and Juilliard’s Gluck Community Service Fellowship.

          Keyboard Suite No. 1 (2018) is a captivating contemporary classical composition. The suite features five distinct movements - Nocturne, Mazurka, Scherzo, Aria, Chorale - that seamlessly blend intricate harmonies with evocative, storytelling melodies. It is a highly atmospheric, virtuosic work that blends classical form with modern jazz and impressionistic colors, functioning as a introspective bridge between serene night music and triumphant, hymn-like majesty. 

          Nocturne: Serving as the first half of the suite, Nocturne is deeply intimate and rhapsodic, demanding a wide dynamic range and sensitive, impressionistic touch. Inspired by Jordan’s Children's Songs series, it explores nostalgic, fragile, and dream-like melodic lines that gradually rise in harmonic complexity. 

Chorale: Acting as a striking contrast, the Chorale shifts to a richer, hymn-like texture. The movement begins with heavy, resonant, and meditative mood, gradually building into a powerful climax that gives the piano a commanding, almost orchestral presence.

Mikael Darmanie began formal music studies in his native Trinidad at the age of 12. He went on to complete his studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Darmanie has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean in the roles of soloist and chamber musician. He made his debut as a conductor in 2008, and he plays an active role in the contemporary music scene in New York City. Known for his “Lisztian pyrotechnics” (New York Classical Review), Darmanie enjoys performing contemporary music by Caroline Shaw, Philip Glass, Duke Ellington, Aaron Copland, Thelonious Monk, Tania León and more.

          Ritual (early 2020s) for solo piano was finalized, and incorporated into Darmanie’s classical and contemporary concert programs when he began actively touring with it in the mid-2020s. It was a precursor to his multi-disciplinary piano and chamber production, The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist, which serves as a powerful creative act of resistance and communal healing. The project centers on the profound personal and collective trauma of state-sanctioned violence. 

Harry T.  Burleigh was a pioneering African American composer, arranger, and baritone singer. Best known for bringing African American spirituals into classical concert repertoire, he was the first Black composer to create a significant body of American art songs. He  studied music on a scholarship at the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City from 1892 to 1896.

          Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (1917) is an art-song arrangement that elevated a traditional slave spiritual into the classical repertoire. His own notes emphasized that delivering the piece successfully relies fundamentally on "deep spiritual feeling" rather than sheer vocal technique. Burleigh’s work was heavily influenced by his mentor and composition instructor, Antonín Dvořák, who convinced Burleigh that spirituals "were not meant for the colored people, but for all people". Unlike traditional folk performance, Burleigh’s classical piano accompaniments employ lush harmonies, chromaticism, and musical ambiguities that add intense, mournful color.

François Couperin, widely known as Couperin le Grand ("the Great"), was a towering figure of the French Baroque era. As the most prominent member of the famous Couperin musical family, he served as court organist and harpsichordist to Louis XIV, bridging French and Italian musical styles through his elegant, highly ornamented, and deeply expressive compositions.

          Le Sixième Ordre (The Sixth Order) (1717) is one of the landmark works of Baroque keyboard music, published in Couperin’s Second Book of Harpsichord Pieces. The collection consists of a suite of character pieces that depict various moods as well as pastoral or poetic scenes. Les Moissonneurs (The Harvesters) is lively, rhythmic and joyful, evoking work in the fields. Les Langueurs Tendres (Tender Languors) is more melancholic and expressive. Le Gazoüillement (The Chirping) is a light, fluid musical illustration that imitates birdsong. La Bersan (tribute to Suzanne Bauyn de Bersan, who was a student of Couperin) is graceful and elegant. Les Baricades Mistérieuses (The Mysterious Barricades), the most famous piece in the set, is characterized by a "lute-style" technique that creates an effect of suspended time. Les Bergeries (The Shepherd’s Fields) is a gentle, pastoral piece. La Commère (The Gossip) is lively and spirited, playing upon rhythmic contrasts. Le Moucheron (The Gnat) is a fast and playful dance.

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and virtuoso pianist, widely considered one of the greatest musicians of the Romantic era. Born in Hamburg to a poor family, as a youth he played piano in local taverns to support his relatives. A relentless perfectionist, Brahms was hailed by Robert Schumann as the natural heir to Beethoven. Based in Vienna for much of his career, Brahms anchored his music in traditional Classical structures while infusing them with sweeping Romantic expressiveness and lyrical depth. His immense catalog spans every major format except opera. 

          Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel (1861) is a masterpiece of the piano repertoire. It consists of 25 imaginative variations and a massive, concluding fugue, all based on an aria from George Frideric Handel's Harpsichord Suite No. 1. It is celebrated for its incredible breadth of expression and demanding pianistic virtuosity. 

The work opens with a simple, elegant theme (the Aria), followed by a sequence of variations that drastically transform the original melody through various moods, textures, and meters. These variations explore a variety of styles, ranging from a lilting siciliana and a canonic variation, to a march and a musette. The work culminates in a multi-voiced fugue which starts as quiet and intricate, and builds progressively in power and texture, exploding into a triumphant climax. The work was premiered by his close friend, pianist Clara Schumann.