Celebrating Black Musical Voices: Black History Month 2025 at Schott Music

Pictured: Florence Price, Daniel Kidane, Dominique Le Gendre and Anthony Davis

Observed annually around the world, Black History Month celebrates the achievements of Black communities, whilst also remembering Black history. In the UK, these celebrations take place in October, and this year’s theme is ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’. The theme conveys a message of resilience, celebrating the remarkable contributions of Black communities, whilst also envisioning a future built on strength and unity.

The theme encompasses six pillars of Black British History, as listed by Black History Month 2025:

• Power in Protest
• Pride in Our Roots
• Icons of Influence
• Black Excellence in the Arts
• Future in Focus
• Service and Sacrifice

At Schott Music, we believe these pillars are reflected in the voices of the composers we are privileged to represent. From works that explore heritage and identity, to music that champions innovation, this composer spotlight celebrates our composers’ creativity, shares their stories, and invites you to experience their music through recordings and performances.

POWER IN PROTEST

Anthony Davis

Opera, Jazz, and History Intertwined

American composer Anthony Davis has long been recognised for amplifying African American history and experience through his operas and orchestral works. His Pulitzer Prize-winning opera The Central Park Five gave voice to one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in recent American history, with its 2019 premiere at Long Beach Opera under Leslie Dunner and a new production in 2025 at Detroit Opera conducted by Anthony Parnther. His landmark earlier opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (New York City Opera, 1986) and Amistad (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1997) likewise confront themes of racial identity, resilience, and social justice. Beyond opera, Davis’s music has been performed by major ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and American Composers Orchestra, reflecting his deep integration of jazz and improvisation into the classical tradition. His works embody a powerful fusion of cultural heritage and political commentary, making them central to the story of contemporary American music.

PRIDE IN OUR ROOTS

Daniel Kidane

Fresh Perspectives from the UK

British composer Daniel Kidane, the son of an Eritrean father and a Russian mother, brings a unique multicultural perspective to his work. He has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation, reflecting the diversity of modern Britain in his music. His orchestral work Awake was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo and made a powerful impression when it opened the Last Night of the Proms in 2019. Dream Song, inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, was performed by the Chineke! Orchestra and baritone Roderick Williams at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, and his violin concerto Aloud was premiered in 2024 by Julia Fischer and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner. By exploring questions of identity and belonging, Kidane’s catalogue resonates with today’s audiences and celebrates the richness of cultural exchange.

ICONS OF INFLUENCE

Florence Price

Resilience in Melody and Memory

Florence Price (1887 – 1953) was a trailblazing composer whose music continues to inspire new generations. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas (1887), Price became the first African American woman to have her music performed by a major American orchestra, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiering her Symphony No. 1 in E minor in 1933.

Despite the discrimination she faced as both a woman and a Black composer, Price remained steadfast in her artistry, uniting traditional European classical forms with the emotional depth of African American spirituals and folk idioms. Her Concert Overture No. 2 (1943), is a perfect example of this, combining spirituals such as “Go Down, Moses”, “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit”, and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” – songs of sorrow and endurance, into an orchestral celebration of hope and resilience.

Though her music fell into relative obscurity after her death, Price’s legacy was rekindled in 2009 following the rediscovery of many of her manuscripts. In 2018, her Concert Overture No. 2 received its UK premiere with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Jane Glover, thanks to the efforts of Dr Shirley Thompson OBE, who highlighted Price’s work on BBC Radio 3’s The Women Erased from Musical History.

BLACK EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTS

Dominique Le Gendre

Heritage Reimagined through Sound

Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Dominique Le Gendre is a London-based composer whose music reflects her Caribbean identity and her early experiences with church choirs, calypso competitions, and the vibrant creative scene of post-independence Trinidad. Her love for music led her to Paris, France, where Le Gendre trained as a classical guitarist. Soon enough, she forged an international career as a composer for theatre, art installations, film, radio, and the concert hall.

Her Concerto for Orchestra (2023–2024) presents multicultural music traditions that exist beyond the Western music canon and explores the possibility of introducing these traditions to the Western orchestra. Drawing inspiration from Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, she reimagines the orchestra as “a vessel that reflects Trinidad’s densely rich and multi-layered natural and human landscape.” The result is a vivid, contemporary work that celebrates diversity, identity, and the dialogue between musical worlds.

Beyond Anthony Davis, Daniel Kidane, Florence Price and Dominique Le Gendre, there is a vast community of Black composers whose work continues to shape our musical landscape. Those who, like these four composers, use music as a vessel to recognise the past, unite diverse musical voices and create music that is imaginative and innovative.

We invite you to listen to their work more deeply, explore their compositions, and share their music with others, not only during Black History Month, but all year round, so that their voices continue to inspire generations to come.

Listening Link: Black History Month with Schott Music

Composer Profiles

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