Kathryn Bostic

Synopsis

On today’s date in 2019 a new documentary film entitled Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah examining her powerful works and her career as a Black American artist.

Appropriately enough, the musical score for that documentary was crafted by another talented Black American woman, namely Kathryn Bostic, an accomplished composer of film, TV, theatrical, and concert hall scores.

Kathryn Bostic is a recipient of many fellowships and awards including several from the Sundance Festival.  Kathryn served the Vice President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, is a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2016 she became the first female African American score composer in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“My parents loved music and my mother was a classical pianist and teacher,” says Bostic “Listening to the wide range of music while growing up brought me to a phenomenal treasure trove of black composers including William Grant Still, Ulysses Kay, George Walker, Margaret Bonds, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Isaac Hayes … I mean I could go on and on. They are all such extraordinary innovators of rich textures and amazing emotional depth. Definitely big influences for me.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Kathryn Bostic: Main Title, from "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am" Lakeshore Records 35495 (original soundtrack album)

On This Day

Births

• 1756 - Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Salzburg;

• 1806 - Spanish composer Juan Crisostomo Arriage, in Rigoitia;

• 1823 - French composer Edouard Lalo, in Lille;

• 1885 - American composer Jerome Kern, in New York City;

Deaths

• 1901 - Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, age 87, in Milan;

Premieres

• 1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 72 ("Alles nur nach Gottes Willen") performed on the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1733 - Handel: opera "Orlando" in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket(Gregorian date: Feb. 7);

• 1844 - Erkel: opera "Hunyady László," considered the first national Hungarian opera, in Budapest;

• 1849 - Verdi: opera "La battaglia di Legnano" (The Battle of Legnano), in Rome at the Teatro Argentina;

• 1874 - Mussorgsky: opera "Boris Godunov", in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 8);

• 1944 - Paul Creston: Saxophone Concerto, in New York;

• 1947 - Stravinsky: Concerto in D, in Basle (Switzerland), by the Basle Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Sacher (who commissioned the work);

• 1955 - Tippett: opera "The Midsummer Marriage," in London at the Royal Opera House, with John Pritchard conducting (and soprano Joan Sutherland in the cast);

• 1967 - Leon Kirchner: Quartet No. 3 for strings and electronic tape, in New York City, by the Beaux Arts Quartet; This work was awarded the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Music;

• 1991 - Off-Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical "Assassins."