(Re)Discovering the Musical Legacy of Julia Perry at 560 Music Center

The rediscovery of Julia Perry (1924–1979) has brought her music to concert stages across the world for the centenary of her birth –– and now to St. Louis. Brought to you by the Washington University in St. Louis Department of Music, we are proud to present in concert a selection of works by Julia Perry that span her earliest successes to selections that had not received a premiere until 2024. Perry’s compositional approach is modernist in orientation, blending influences of the church, spirituals, and popular music, a neoclassical impulse, and a penchant for melodic writing. This concert will highlight the pluralism of Perry and provide a window into the complexity and singularity of her musical voice. Rising star Thandolwethu Mamba, baritone, (who recently performed in the Metropolitan Opera’s  X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) will present two newly recovered works,  Six Contrasts for Baritone and Piano (1954) and Quinary Quixotic Songs (1976). World-renowned mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford will present two of Perry’s spiritual settings as well as the centerpiece of the program, Perry’s best-known masterpiece, the Stabat Mater (1952). Concert attendees can expect to learn about the incredible life and music of Julia Perry, a Black woman and composer whose strikingly original voice has been neglected in the concert hall, and in the history of American classical music, for far too long. 

This concert ends the Julia Perry Symposium and Concert, where scholars, performers, and advocates of Julia Perry and her legacy will present research and recent developments in the recovery of her life and work. For those interested in learning more, please consider attending the roundtable discussion featuring Lucia Bradford and hosted by Ph.D. Student Christina Smiley, or any number of the other presentations.  

Program:

Prelude for Piano (1962)

Six Contrasts for Baritone and Piano (1954)
      Featuring Baritone Thandolwethu Mamba

Quinary Quixotic Songs for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble (1976)
      Featuring Baritone Thandolwethu Mamba

I’m a Poor Little Orphan in this World (1952)
      Featuring Mezzo-Soprano Lucia Bradford

How Beautiful are the Feet (1951)
            Featuring Mezzo-Soprano Lucia Bradford

Pastoral for Flute and String Sextet (1959)

Stabat Mater (1951)
          Featuring Mezzo-Soprano Lucia Bradford