JULIA PERRY & COLERIDGE-TAYLOR PERKINSON
Experiential Orchestra James Blachly - Curtis Stewart
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson 1. LOUISIANA BLUES STRUT Curtis Stewart, solo violin Julia Perry 2. PRELUDE FOR STRINGS (arr. Zahab) Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson SINFONIETTA NO. 1 3. I: SONATA ALLEGRO 4. II: SONG FORM-LARGO 5. III: RONDO-ALLEGRO FURIOSO Julia Perry 6. S YMPHONY IN ONE MOVEMENT FOR VIOLAS AND BASSES Julia Perry 7. YE, WHO SEEK THE TRUTH (arr. Norpoth) Julia Perry CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA Curtis Stewart, solo violin 8. I. SLOW; MODERATE; FAST; MODERATE 9. II. SLOW; MODERATE; FAST 10. III. MODERATE 11. IV. FAST 12. V. SLOW; FAST 13. VI. FAST; MODERATE; FAST Curtis Stewart 14. WE WHO SEEK © 2023 • BSTC-0200 • brightshiny.ninja • All rights reserved. Unauthorized replication & distribution prohibited
“American Counterpoints refers to the compositional technique of interweaving
independent melodies into a powerful whole, and the strength, integrity, and imaginative music that results. The title underscores how these two masterful composers were
required to create new musical paths for themselves because the mainstream of classical music did not have a place for them centerstage.
Julia Amanda Perry flourished in Europe, with only limited success in the United States. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s boundless musical talents found most success in film and television, jazz and popular music.
Yet despite being marginalized and largely ignored for many decades, both composers are essential to American classical music, and our intention with this album is to advocate for their music to claim its rightful place within the core of our American repertoire.”—James Blachly & Curtis Stewart, December 2023
Album co-curated by Curtis Stewart and James Blachly. Produced by Blanton Alspaugh (Soundmirror). Engineered, mixed and mastered by Mark Donahue (Soundmirror). Recorded at DiMenna Center for Classical Music September 5-7, 2023. Executive producers: James Blachly, Curtis Stewart, Louis Levitt. This recording was made possible by the contributions of more than 50 supporters, and in particular with the generous support of Ed and Ellen Bernard, the John R Dexter II Trust, David Langstaff, James E. Moskin, and granting support from Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy and the Sphinx Organization. Special thanks to The Julia Perry Estate, Roger Zahab, Jannina Norpoth, Dr. Louise Toppin, Dr. Fredara Hadley, Pauline Kim Harris, Lionel Foster, David Krivit, Christopher Wilkins, Maria Iannacone/Theodore Pesser, Jay Berger/Carl Fischer, Lauren Keiser Music Publishing, Louis Levitt and the entire team at Bright Shiny Things, Rebecca Linder Blachly, and the board of Experiential Orchestra.
Experiential Orchestra James Blachly, Music Director Flute 1 Catherine Gregory Flute 2/Piccolo Anna Urrey Oboe 1 Christa Robinson Oboe 2 Ryan Walsh Clarinet 1 Eric Umble Clarinet 2 Paul Won Jin Cho Tenor Sax Thomas Giles Horn 1 Colin Weyman Horn 2 Laura Weiner Horn 3 Kyra Sims Bassoon 1 Brad Balliett Bassoon 2 Nanci Belmont Trumpet 1 Matt Mead Trumpet 2 Maximilian Morel Trombone Kalun Leung Bass Trombone Alix Tucou Piano Mikael Darmanie Harp Jacqueline Kerrod Timpani Ian Sullivan Percussion 1 Brandon Ilaw Percussion 2 V íctor Pablo Garcia-Gaetán
Violin I Alex Fortes** Henry Wang ^^ Katie Hyun Conrad Harris Ling Ling Huang Doori Na Kobi Malkin Violin II Monica Davis* Lady Jess+^ Pauline Kim Harris Lauren Cauley Ravenna Lipchik Viola Dana Kelley* Edwin Kaplan+^ Will Frampton~ Maren Rothfritz Jennifer Arnold~ Nick Revel
Cello Hamilton Berry* Michael Katz+ Serafim Smigelskiy^ Titilayo Ayangade Bass Doug Balliett*^~ Nathaniel Chase+~ Anthony Morris Dominic Law Christopher Johnson Pauline Kim Harris Director of Artistic Planning Librarian Jules Lai *Principal, Concerto for Violin + Principal, Sinfonietta No. 1 ^ Principal, Ye, Who Seek the Truth, Prelude for Strings ~ Principal, Symphony in One Movement for Violas and Basses ** Concertmaster, Concerto for Violin, Sinfonietta No. 1 ^^ Concertmaster, Ye, Who Seek the Truth, Prelude for Strings
About American Counterpoints A CO-CREATION This recording is the result of a multi-year co-creation, collaboration, co-curating process. Curtis and I both grew up in New York City in the 80s and 90s, and we have worked together in various contexts since we both graduated conservatory. As I considered someone to collaborate with in a performance of Perry’s Violin Concerto, Curtis’s artistry kept returning to my inner ear. As it turns out, both of us had been fascinated by the music of Julia Perry for many years. The curation of our concert in December 2022 was one of the most seamless, organic, inevitable collaborations I’ve been a part of – we both shared ideas and brainstormed, and within an hour we had created a concert that began with Curtis walking through the audience playing Strut, and ended with an arrangement of that piece by our colleague David Krivit; for an encore, Curtis created a call-andresponse with the audience. We contextualized the Perry concerto with music that provides a broad picture of her musical genius, and wove her works together with her younger contemporary Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
Before the concerto itself, we invited our esteemed colleague Dr. Fredara Hadley to speak about her personal connection to Julia Perry, in what became an organic and powerful conversation. The energy that night was electric, and we knew we were on to something when Curtis got a note from jazz legend Rufus Reid saying, “I have not felt that good and warm after an orchestra concert, EVER! BRAVO! Also, thank you for educating all of us about the mighty, JULIA PERRY! KUDUS and BRAVO to the Maestro James Blachly for igniting the EXO orchestra! Thank you!”
With responses like that, Curtis and I both wanted to keep the magic going, and we knew that as much as that performance had helped to advocate for the brilliance and importance of the Perry Violin Concerto, the best way to encourage others to program and perform the piece would be to pour ourselves into creating a recording that does the work full justice. This album is the result of that multi-year process. —James Blachly
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JULIA PERRY By Fredara M. Hadley, Ph.D., The Juilliard School Julia Perry may be new to 21st Century listeners, but she was well-known in her lifetime. Listening to her compositions and learning about her life is an act of rediscovery in the purest sense of the word because the world had, indeed, discovered her.
Julia Perry was a woman born in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, to an educated black family. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, the fourth of five sisters in a time where classical musical training was typical for a well-to-do black family such as hers. She was innately gifted and studied both voice and violin. In the 1940s, Perry continued her studies at Westminster College where she studied voice, piano, and composition. Her studies culminated in earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree. History shows us that Perry soon began receiving recognition for both her musical talent and her compositions. In 1948 she attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Negro Musicians and won first prize in voice and tied for first prize in composition. In the same year, she began teaching at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), a Historically Black College located in Virginia renowned for its music program and Hampton Singers. The program was brought to prominence led by venerated composer, R. Nathaniel Dett. There, she taught voice, theory, orchestration, and composition. She also arranged spirituals and composed pieces including, “Song of Our Savior” and “Lord, What Shall I Do? A Spiritual by Julia Perry.” Although both were original compositions, they followed in the modal and antiphonal traditions of Negro Spirituals.
Though she taught, composing was her chosen vocation. Filled with her studies and teaching experiences, the 1950s were a productive era for her in which studied composition with Luigi Dallapiccola at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts. While at Tanglewood she completed her Stabat Mater and performed it to great acclaim. She then received two Guggenheim Fellowships in 1952 and 1954 to travel and study with Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy and then with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Yet again, Perry was recognized for her compositional talent when she won the Boulanger Grand Prix for her Viola Sonata. This period notes a shift in
her compositional voice as she explored dissonance and abstraction and developed an eclectic musical language that would remain a throughline in the remainder of her work. One of the clearest examples of her new musical horizons was in her Short Piece for Orchestra which premiered in 1952 and was performed and recorded by The New York Philharmonic in 1965.
Perry spent most of the 1950s in Europe and critics often remarked on the absence of “africanisms” in her compositions. Yet the freedom to explore musical ideas however one sees fit is one of life’s greatest freedoms. Upon her return to the United States she crafted her own responses to the Civil Rights Era which was then cresting. She wrote pieces including her Fifth Symphony (“Integration Symphony) for Chamber Orchestra and her Tenth Symphony (“Soul Symphony) that incorporated elements of black popular music. She also reignited her affiliation with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by teaching at Florida A&M University in 1967 and presenting lectures at the Atlanta University Center (the home of four HBCUs including Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown University, and Spelman College). Unfortunately, by the 1960s mental and health challenges began to take their toll. Perry, who never married and had no children, was her own primary means of financial and creative support. Through physical paralysis she continued to write. When her right side became incapacitated, she taught herself to write with her left hand. Many urged her to donate her prolific oeuvre to an archive, but Perry, who had received so much commercial success in her lifetime kept her manuscripts in hopes that another publication opportunity would emerge. Sadly, that was not to be, and Julia Perry passed away on April 24, 1979.
Although many of her compositions are lost or only exist in manuscript form, listeners should listen to Julia Perry as a composer who followed her own call to freedom in an era where that was denied for many others. And perhaps Julia Perry was right, and her dreams of continuing acclaim are coming true after all.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF COLERIDGE-TAYLOR PERKINSON Musician, composer, and conductor Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson was born on
the Pomare Dance Company. He also wrote and conducted the scores
pianist, organist, and theater director in the Bronx, named her son after the
about Martin Luther King Jr., and A Warm December, a film both starring and
June 14, 1932, in Manhattan, New York City. Perkinson’s mother, a talented
Afro-British composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Perkinson began showing
an interest in music at a very young age and in 1945 he began attending New York’s High School of Music and Art. In 1948, he won the prestigious High School Music and Art Choral Competition with his composition titled And Behold. Perkinson graduated from the high school in 1949 and that same year he won the coveted LaGuardia Prize for Music.
After high school, Perkinson attended New York University where he was an education major until 1951, intending to become a public school teacher. In that year, however, he decided instead to focus on music and transferred to the
Manhattan School of Music where he became a composition major. Perkinson studied under influential figures such
as Charles Mills, Vittorio Giannini, and Jonel Perlea. He
graduated in 1953 and during the summer of 1954 began
taking courses in conducting at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts while at the same time studying under renowned composer Earl Kim at Princeton University. In
1960, Perkinson traveled to Holland, where he spent three
years pursuing his studies in conducting under Maestros Dean Dixon and Franco Ferrara at the Netherlands Radio Union at Hilversum.
Perkinson had a long and successful career in the music industry. He
worked as a music director and arranger for many famous jazz and soul
artists including Marvin Gaye, Barbara McNair, Lou Rawls, Donald Byrd, Max Roach, Melvin Van Peebles, and Harry Belafonte. Perkinson also composed numerous musical scores for the stage, film, and television. He wrote ballet scores for dance companies like Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, and
for award winning films such as Montgomery to Memphis, a documentary
directed by Sidney Poitier. Perkinson also wrote the theme songs for several hit network television shows including Get Christie Love! and Room 222.
In 1965, Perkinson co-founded the Symphony of the New World, which he also conducted from 1965 to 1970. In addition to writing and conducting,
Perkinson also held various teaching positions, including
a job at Indiana University from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 until his death in 2004, he worked as the Coordinator of Performance Activities at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Black Music Research. Coleridge-Taylor
Perkinson passed away on March 9, 2004 in Chicago,
Illinois. The year after his death a wide-range compilation of his music was released on an album titled Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004); A Celebration.
©2008 Keiser Southern Music. Reprinted with permission.
NOTES ON THE MUSIC by Curtis Stewart and James Blachly Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk for Violin
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
The first time I performed this was stomping across the Isaac Stern main stage of Carnegie Hall with Jason Moran, Alicia Hall Moran, The Harlem Chamber Players celebrating the influence of the Great Migration on American music, in their project “Two Wings.” “Strut” is a tour de force in the “Black Folk” of classical music. It was one of the first pieces I felt like I could “own” as a player - instead of looking for technical perfection, I tried to capture a sort of “field recording” blues quality and energy, embody the performance practice of the blues in my sound and rhythmic elán. — Curtis Stewart
Perry’s concerto forms the centerpiece of the album. This is perhaps Perry’s ultimate compositional masterpiece. The music reveals an expansive imagination, and her ability to derive all of this music from just two contrasting intervals is truly incredible. As you will hear, the work includes outrageous writing for violin - virtuosic and difficult and rewarding, and reflects her mastery of the instrument.
Prelude for Strings Originally her Prelude for Piano (1946), Roger Zahab found in Perry’s papers references to an arrangement for strings, but did not find the arrangement itself, so he created one. James has brought this prelude to many orchestras across the country, and this piece serves as a very appealing entry-point for Perry’s music. We also hope that it will become widely programmed. Sinfonietta No. 1 Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson wrote this piece when he was only 22 years old, which is mind-boggling. It is a work of great maturity, with sweeping compositional energy and capacity. The musical language is a combination of baroque contrapuntal technique, and jazz-informed harmonies (Perkinson was a prominent jazz pianist). We present this as a tour-de-force compositionally as well as a tour-de-force for the EXO strings. Symphony in One Movement for Violas and Basses Perry’s music is often unexpected, and powerfully so. The choice of violas and basses – two instruments that are rarely featured melodically – is unusual and wonderful. The piece has so many fantastic short blocks, and this piece could be a sampler paradise, where an enterprising musician could take any number of 10-second excerpts and throw down a great hip hop track. Ye, Who Seek the Truth is a choral composition and refers to Perry’s time at Westminster Choir College, where she was the pitch giver for several years, and also concertmaster of the orchestra (see below). Jannina Norpoth created the arrangement for our concert in December 2022, and graciously gave us permission to include on this album.
In our discussion of interpretation, Curtis and I explored how in a poetic way, the two intervals seem to represent her life and career: starting with a sweet major third with her early success, and then to an unfulfilled, yearning major seventh at the end of her career, with no compositional opportunities, financial hardship, terrible health, and yet the will and drive to continue to compose in the face of that adversity. Her final revisions of the piece, in 1977, were at a time when she could no longer use her right hand, and had taught herself to compose and write with her left hand. Curtis has taken this piece and explored every nuance and gesture, and created an extraordinary and compelling reading of the work. We are both so proud to be able to advocate for this piece; we deeply believe in its value and importance, and its place within our core repertoire. —Notes by James Blachly We Who Seek “We Who Seek” for solo violin, verse, strings and electronics. This work explores the “Remix” as electro-counterpoint. A paraphrase of the religious hymn “Ye Who Seek the Truth,” with samples of it’s Julia Perry/Jannina Norpoth arrangement, is obfuscated and reframed by samples of the concerto, Strut, and Prelude - using their mutual intervallic content for harmonic invention and variation. These tones and timbres set the table for verbal + personal interrogations on the idea of truth, representation, belonging, and history - they are imaginings on the personal fortitude of both Perry and Perkinson, in chaotic + determined pursuit of their “musical truths,” and woven into a future focused electrosymphonic kaleidoscope of sound and style. —Curtis Stewart
ABOUT EXPERIENTIAL ORCHESTRA Experiential Orchestral brings audiences closer to the music by inviting listeners to engage in imaginative approaches to orchestral music through educational and interactive concert experiences. Their Grammy®️-winning world-premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison (1930) was critically acclaimed in The New York Times, Gramophone, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and many other publications.
Musicians are drawn from New York’s most in-demand freelancers, chamber musicians, and soloists. Founded by Music Director James Blachly, the orchestra was founded on collaborations and cocreations between a generous spirit of celebration, and each curated performance is an exploration of “a new experience of sound” for audience members. Known for imaginative and groundbreaking programming that frequently advocates for under-celebrated masterpieces and composers, EXO’s concerts have been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Roulette, National Sawdust, Lincoln Center, Americas Society, and in partnership with Musicambia and Groupmuse at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Concerts have also been presented at Penn State University, American University, and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. Experiential Orchestra’s Music Director is James Blachly. The Director of Artistic Planning is Pauline Kim Harris. The orchestra’s Creative Team includes Henry Wang, concertmaster; Michelle Ross, co-concertmaster; Alexander Fortes, coconcertmaster; Lady Jess, principal; and Sami Merdinian, principal. Its Artistic Advisors are Patrick Castillo, Brad Balliett, and Doug Balliett. For more information, please visit www.experientialorchestra.com.
ABOUT CURTIS STEWART Praised for “combining omnivory and brilliance” (The New York Times), four-time GRAMMY Awardnominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart translates stories of American self determination to the concert stage. As a solo violinist, composer, Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, professor at The Juilliard School, and member of award-winning ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail, he realizes a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures and musics. As a soloist, Curtis Stewart has been presented by Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Cal Performances, Washington Performing Arts, Virginia Arts Festival, and
the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, among many others. His 2021 album Of Power (Bright Shiny Things) was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Stewart has been commissioned to compose new works by the Seattle Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall’s Play/USA, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and members of the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, La Jolla Music Society, Sybarite5, the New York Festival of Song, Newport Classical Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman Cello Institute, among others. An avid teacher, Curtis Stewart currently teaches at The Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program, and for 10 years led all levels of music theory and orchestra at the Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts in NYC. Learn more at www.curtisjstewart.com.
ABOUT JAMES BLACHLY James Blachly is a Grammy®-winning conductor dedicated to enriching the concert experience by connecting with audiences in memorable and meaningful ways. Blachly is the founder and Music Director of Experiential Orchestra as well as Music Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, and is a versatile guest conductor in diverse repertoire with orchestras including New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, and WDR Funkhausorchester.
A strong supporter of composers of our time, Blachly has commissioned and premiered more than 40 works by composers including Jessie Montgomery, Courtney Bryan, Viet Cuong, and many others. In recent seasons, he has collaborated with soloists Paul Jacobs, Michelle Cann, Charles Yang, Julia Bullock, Dashon Burton, Helga Davis, Sarah Brailey, Andrew Yee, and more. Blachly serves as the Associate Editor and Orchestral Liaison for the African Diaspora Music Project, directed by Dr. Louise Toppin. In that role, he has overseen the compilation of a database and website detailing more than 1,300 published works for orchestra by African diaspora composers.