Her name is Florence Price, and this is her music.

She's one of the most important classical music composers.

You probably never heard of.

Well, I visited KUSCs classical music station, and asked host Jennifer Miller Hammel about the effort to be more inclusive.

You and I talked a little bit before about the aftermath of George Floyd and the interest of cultural institutions across Southern California.

It really gave us an opportunity after that tragedy to take a look at what we were doing as a voice for underserved composers and performers.

And were we doing enough?

And the answer, “no, we were not And so we reexamined who we were playing.

Whether any of those female composers or performers that you can tell me a story about.

Florence Price was a composer in the early 20th century, and she was the first black American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra.

Her “Symphony Number One ” was performed by the Chicag Symphony at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Wow.

Yeah, she died in 1953.

And after her death, it was like silence.

So around 2009, there was a couple that had bought a house and they found stacks and stacks of papers throughout this house.

Musical scores, notes, journals, all had the name Florence Price on them.

And now she's back in the conversation again.

The world is going to open up in terms of what you will hear.

For more information, please go to our website at KCET.

I'm Bonnie Boswell.

Bonnie Boswell reports is brought to you by the California Wellness Foundation.