About Florence Beatrice Price

Florence Beatrice Price was an American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887 she is now recognised as one of the most important African American female composers. Price studied counterpoint and composition under George Chadwick and Frederick Converse at the New England Conservatory in Boston and graduated in 1906 with an artist diploma in organ performance. Following a career performing, teaching and composing she won a Wanamaker Foundation Award for her Symphony No. 1 in E minor and the following year it was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  In 1940, Price was inducted into the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers for her work as a composer.

Despite her success as an artist during her lifetime she was acutely aware of the discrimination she faced being both female and black.  Sadly Price’s music fell into relative obscurity after her death in 1953 though following the discovery in 2009 of a substantial collection of her works much of her music is now available. Amongst these works is her Concert Overture No. 2 (1943) for orchestra which received its UK premiere in 2018 by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Jane Glover in 2018 thanks to champion of Price’s music, Dr Shirley Thompson OBE and her involvement with BBC Radio 3’s The women erased from musical history project for International Women’s Day 2018.