Happy Birthday to composer Julia Amanda Perry (1924-1979)!
Julia Perry, prolific and accomplished composer of neoclassical music, studied at Westminster Choir College and the Julliard School of Music. Perry was the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships: one to study with Lugia Dallapiccola in Florence and the other with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After studying in Europe for several years, she returned to the United States to teach at Florida A & M College (now University), and later became a professor at Atlanta University.
Stabat Mater, her first major work, was released in 1951. Her opera “The Cask of Amontillado” was staged three years later, premiering at Columbia University. She also wrote “Homage to Vivaldi” for orchestra.
Listen to Julia Perry’s “Study for Orchestra”!
By the late 1960s, Perry’s works were widely praised. Her music was performed by the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras. Over the course of her life, she completed 12 symphonies, two concertos, and three operas, in addition to numerous smaller pieces, and received numerous awards and honors from institutions including the National Association of Negro Musicians, the Boulanger Grand Prix, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Click here to read more about her!