Florence Price: Violin Concertos

It is indeed a cause for excitement when two concertos by Florence Price, the first African American woman to write a symphony performed by a major U.S. Orchestra, are recorded. There are no known performances of Price’s first violin concerto, but the Violin Concerto No. 2, completed in 1952 was performed posthumously by its dedicatee, Minnie Cedargreen Jemberg at the opening of the Florence B. Price School in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood in 1964. The two concertos are joined on this recording by a work for violin and orchestra by Ryan Cockerham, which is a tribute to Florence Price’s home state of Arkansas. Violinist Er-Gene Kahng is on the faculty at the Universityof Arkansas in Fayetteville and is concertmaster of the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. She is on the violin faculty at the Montecito International Music Festival, the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, and performs with the Bay View Music Festival string quartet. Ryan Cockerham’s creative work has been exhibited and performed by leading arts and academic organizations around the world, including the English National Ballet, Art Expo Milano, and the Texas Ballet Theater, among many others.