Acclaimed for her scholarly storytelling and world-premiere recordings of Black Renaissance repertoire by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, musicologist-pianist Samantha Ege has been dubbed “our trusted guide through lesser-known piano works both dynamic and beautiful” by BBC Music Magazine. Next month, Ege releases her fifth album, Maestra, featuring the piano concertos of Julia Perry and Doreen Carwithen, including the first commercial recording of Perry’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in Two Uninterrupted Speeds. The album, which experiments with time, space, color, and texture, will be released by Lorelt Records on March 25, 2025 – the 101st anniversary of Perry’s birth.
Photo by Mark Allen / The Barbican
Ege is known for her determination to uncover and elevate music by oft-neglected composers, and her work has expanded public access to and understanding of a cadre of pioneering women. In addition to several premiere recordings of pivotal works by Black women, her contributions include academic publications, BBC radio documentaries, and her debut book, South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene, just released in November 2024.
“I love bringing different women's voices into conversation with one another,” said Ege. “Even though Julia Perry and Doreen Carwithen never met, they had such ambition and drive in common. Sadly, they sank into obscurity in different ways – but on this album, they shine so brightly together.”
Photo of Julia Perry, courtesy of Talbott Music Library Special Collections and Westminster Choir College Archives.
Photo of Doreen Carwithen, courtesy of the William Alwyn Foundation.
Born in Kentucky to a schoolteacher and amateur pianist, Julia Perry (1924-1979) studied in elite musical spaces – from Westminster Choir College and Juilliard to the private studios of Nadia Boulanger and Luigi Dallapiccola – earning admirers like Aaron Copland along the way. This premiere recording of Perry’s piano concerto features a haze of strings and winds and an irregular time signature that suspends reality, followed by a virtuosic, energetic movement with Afrodiasporic syncopations.
“Perry's Piano Concerto is a real celebration of her genius,” said Ege. “She's built a whole universe, filling each musical measure with the brilliance of her own sonic cosmos. There's also something so multidimensional about her exploration – her concerto isn't in two movements, but in two speeds, as if she's playing with spacetime. Yet this is no mere intellectual exercise; this music is vivid and alive, with so much color.”
An English contemporary of Perry, Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003) was a groundbreaking film composer in the male-dominated movie industry. Her Concerto for Piano and Strings is lush and cinematic with dramatic strings, shifting between muscular themes and introspective moods before breathing fire and catharsis into the concerto’s final moments. The work offers a fascinating glimpse of the skilled musical storyteller before her identity was subsumed by her professor-turned-husband William Alwyn. When they eloped, Carwithen became Mary Alwyn, devoting herself entirely to promoting William’s work until his death.
Ege’s artistic advocacy has brought fresh prominence to numerous women, recognizing their formative contributions despite immense adversity. The New York Times notes that this increased recognition is a “triumph indeed…a testament to how Ege has brought this music to the life it more than deserves.”
Samantha Ege is an award-winning musicologist and innovative pianist who specializes in the music of 20th and 21st century composers. Her performances bring her research to life, often entwining narration and conversation alongside more conventional programming. With her critically acclaimed world premiere recordings of music by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Helen Hagan, Ethel Bilsland, Undine Smith Moore, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, and now Julia Perry, Ege places storytelling at the center of every note. She has shared the transformative impact of brilliant historical Black women in classical music with outlets like BBC Radio, The New York Times, The Guardian, Gramophone, and International Piano Magazine.