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Music Monday | A Juneteenth Tribute: The Music of Freedom | June 22, 2026
- Jun 22
- 1 min read
We have written about Florence Price before, and with Juneteenth just behind us, this is the perfect moment to return to her. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1887, she became the first Black woman to have a composition performed by a major American orchestra when the Chicago Symphony played her Symphony No. 1 in 1933. After her death, her manuscripts were largely forgotten until discovered by chance in 2009 in a deteriorating house in Illinois — a loss that deprived audiences of her music for half a century.
Today we celebrate Price through the playing of Rebeca Omordia, an award-winning pianist of Romanian and Nigerian heritage whom you will hear at our season-opening Classical Classics concert this November alongside another acclaimed Nigerian pianist, Glen Inanga. Omordia is recognized worldwide for her pioneering work in African classical music, and there is perhaps no better way to honor the spirit of the weekend just passed than watching her perform Price’s Fantasie Nègre No. 1 — a work that weaves European classical structure with the spirit of African American spirituals, composed by a woman who refused to be silenced.
