Fall River Symphony Highlights Composers Of African Descent

The Fall River Symphony has been on mission to highlight composers of African descent in recent months, whose work has been widely unrecognized by the mainstream classical world.

It was the idea of director and conductor Douglas McRay Daniels, who says following last summer's reckoning with racial justice, the Symphony debated whether it should issue a statement in support of Black Lives Matter. But Daniels, who had been thinking of doing this long before last Summer, thought there was a better way to address what was happening around us.

Daniels also teaches music at Tufts University, Roger William University in Rhode Island, and is the instrumental instructor at Gann Academy in Waltham. He joins us to talk about these composers, and how he hopes their work opens the classical world to more people like him.

The Fall River Symphony will be performing Composers of African Descent: The Contemporary Voice as part of their Spring Presentation this Sunday, May 16th. You can find more info here.