About Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London and brought up in Croydon. He learnt to play the violin, was recognised as a child prodigy and at 15 was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music with Charles Villiers Stanford, where he was a contemporary of Holst and Vaughan Williams.

Coleridge-Taylor described himself Anglo-African and, despite support from his colleagues, faced racism throughout his whole career. In spite of this prejudice and his tragically early death in 1912 aged just 37, he enjoyed great success during his lifetime including three tours to the United States, an audience with Theodore Roosevelt at the White house in 1904, and performances of his music at the Proms no less than 116 times between 1898 and 1939. In contrast, since 1940 his music has only been heard there on eleven occasions to date.