Black History Month on CPR Classical recognizes the legacy of African-American composers and the contributions of today’s Black artists and creatives. Check out these events taking place in February around the Denver metro and across our state.
Congressional Chorus: Afro Blue
Subtitled “Celebrating Black Women in Music,” the latest virtual concert from the local choral organization pays homage to some of the greatest Black women composers, arrangers, and performers across genres. Represented in the program are contemporary artists including Tracy Chapman with her signature 1988 breakthrough “Fast Car,” which
Rolling Stone ranked No. 167 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list, compiled in 2004 and Alicia Keys, with her signature breakthrough “Fallin ” from 2001. Naturally the setlist also includes the late Undine Smith Moore, the industry trailblazer from Virginia regarded as the “Dean of Black Women Composers.”
“One of the most evil effects of racism in my time was the limits it placed upon the aspirations of Blacks,” Smith is famously quoted as saying, “so that though I have been ‘making up’ and creating music all my life, in my childhood or even in college I would not have thoug