Basic Facts
Born: March 8, 1903, London, England
Died: December 21, 1998, Seaford, Sussex
Type of Performer: Conductor, composer, pianist
Genre: Classical
About Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Born in London in 1903, Avril Coleridge-Taylor was the daughter of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Her father died when she was only nine, and she wrote her first composition, entitled Goodbye Butterfly, at age 12. She went on to study composition and piano at Trinity College of Music in 1915. In 1933, she made her conducting debut at Royal Albert Hall. She was the first female conductor of the H.M. Royal Marine Band. In the 1940s, Coleridge-Taylor founded and conducted the Coleridge-Taylor Symphony Orchestra and its music society. She was also a frequent conductor of the BBC Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Malcom Sargent Symphony Orchestra.
During her career, Coleridge-Taylor wrote over 90 works, including large-scale works, chamber works, and songs for keyboard. In 1957, she wrote the Ceremonial March to celebrate Ghana's independence. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Peter Riley to avoid accusations that she was using her father's name to unjustly further her own career, as she inevitably faced systemic and overt racism as a woman of color in a field dominated by white men. For example, during a trip to apartheid South Africa in 1952, the government would not allow her to work as a composer or conductor there once it found out that she was one-quarter black.
Comments
Post a Comment