Introducing the music of Florence Beatrice Price.

Born in 1887, Florence Beatrice Price went on to become one of the first prominent African-American composers. Following a move to Chicago in 1927, her career as a composer took off, not least following the award of several prizes intended to support black composers. This success brought her to the attention of the director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who agreed to give the premiere of her First Symphony in 1933. This represented the first time a major American orchestra had ever performed a piece by an African-American composer. Raymond Bisha introduces a new recording of Price’s First and Fourth Symphonies.