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Florence Price, a highly prolific and influential composer, was the first Black woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra. Her legacy lives on in her compositions, yet she is still widely underperformed within the musical canon. The Florence Price Festival will be held on the weekend of February 5 and 6 on the campuses of Texas Lutheran University and the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). The goal is to promote the music of Florence Price while providing an opportunity for students to share their creative and scholarly endeavors with a wider community. The interdisciplinary festival will include keynote speakers, vocal and composition masterclasses, poetry readings, concerts, and a student research symposium. All events are free and open to the public.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, February 5 (UIW)

1 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Michael Cooper

2 p.m.

Composition Masterclass with Nkeiru Okoye

3:30 p.m.

Poetry Discussion with Andrea Vocab Sanderson

4:30 p.m.

Student Poetry Reading

7:30 p.m.

UIW Concert

Sunday, February 6 (TLU)

10 a.m.

Settings of Dunbar Poetry with Minnita Daniel Cox

11 a.m.

Vocal Masterclass with Louise Toppin

1:30 p.m.

TLU Student Research Symposium

3 p.m.

TLU Concert

TLU Student Research Symposium Call for Participation:

The Student Research Symposium will be held Sunday, February 6, at 1:30 p.m. The Florence Price Festival Planning Committee invites students to submit proposals for posters and 15-minute research presentations. Proposals can be from Music, English, African American Studies, History, Women's and Gender Studies, and other disciplines. Topics should focus on Florence Price and Her World:

  • About Florence Price or one of her compositions
  • Biographical, contextual, or purely musical lenses
  • Reflections on the importance of studying Price
  • Connections between Florence Price and other artists (i.e. Margaret Bonds, Marian Anderson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, William Grant Still)
  • The arts of the Chicago Renaissance and/or Harlem Renaissance

Image Credit: G. Nelidoff, Portrait of Florence Price Looking at the Camera, Florence Price Papers Addendum (MC 988a), box 2, folder 1, item 4. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville