Margaret Bonds | Sopranos W/O Borders (Ep. 12)

Happy Women's History Month! We are honored to present Margaret Bonds: a piano prodigy, composer, arranger, and teacher. A graduate of Northwestern University, she channeled the hardships she experienced due to racial prejudice into her music. She grew up surrounded by some of the great artistic luminaries of the time, and eventually forged an iconic partnership with the singular Langston Hughes. Bonds holds the distinction of being the first woman of color to accomplish a range of performance and compositional feats in classical music, including performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing Florence Price's Concerto in D Minor with the Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, and composing the oft-performed Christmas cantata, Ballad of the Brown King, premiered by CBS in 1960. Moreover, Bonds established the Negro Spiritual as a bedrock of the great American Songbook, bringing its significant aesthetic even more to the forefront of American classical music. Written and narrated by Alicia Waller and Marielle Murphy. Original artwork by Caitlin Rain. READ THE COMPANION ARTICLE:   / margaret-bonds-black-lives-matter-in-class...   FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Website - https://linktr.ee/sopranoswithoutborders Instagram -   / sopranoswithoutborders   TikTok -   / sopranoswithoutborders   Twitter -   / sopranoswithout   ________________________________________ This video includes music from the following pieces: 00:01 - "Troubled Water" by Margaret Bonds, Maria Corley, piano 00:59 - "Montgomery Variations: II. Prayer Meeting" by Margaret Bonds 01:57 - "Concerto in D Minor" by Florence Price 02:26 - "Montgomery Variations: IV. Dawn in Dixie" by Margaret Bonds 02:52 - "Take the A Train" by Duke Ellington 03:19 - "Troubled Water" by Margaret Bonds, Maria Corley, piano 03:42 - "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" by Margaret Bonds, Leontyne Price, soprano 04:27 - "Montgomery Variations: III. March" by Margaret Bonds