Julia Perry - Prelude for Piano

Allegra Chapman - Piano (from her video -    • Julia Perry (1924-1979) - Prelude  ) Julia Amanda Perry (1924-1979) was an American Composer. Perry combined European classical and neo-classical training with her African-American heritage. She went on to study voice, piano, and composition at the Westminster Choir College 1943–48. It was there that she received her B.M. and M.M. She continued on to her graduate studies at Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, where she was a student of Luigi Dallapiccola, and then later studied at the Juilliard School of Music. Around this time she was awarded her first Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1952, Perry began studying under Nadia Boulanger in Paris, during which time she was awarded the Boulanger Grand Prix for her Viola Sonata. Soon after she was awarded her second Guggenheim Fellowship, which she used to return to Italy and continue her studies with Dallapiccola. Perry also studied conducting at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena during the summers of 1956 and 1957, and in 1957 was sponsored by the U.S. Information Service to conduct a series of concerts in Europe. Among her other works, are a piano concerto, violin concerto, operas, symphonies and chamber music.