3354 - Celebrating Black History in Classical Music (Judith Costello)
Course Description
Instructor: Judith Costello
While most of us can easily list the essential contributions of African-American musicians to the popular genres of jazz, R&B, rock’n’roll, gospel music, hip-hop, and rap (to name a few), we may be less familiar with groundbreaking Black musicians in the Western Classical tradition.
In this course, offered during Black History Month 2025, we pay tribute to a few of the composers, conductors, and performers of African descent whose gifts have enriched American and world music since this country was young.
Over the four weeks of this course, we’ll hear a work by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who was Mozart's contemporary and friend; we’ll learn about the violin virtuoso George Bridgetower, the dedicatee of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata; and we’ll explore the abundant output of American works by formerly enslaved people and their descendants. Finally, we’ll sample a variety of performances by 20th and 21st century Black singers, instrumentalists, and conductors.
Bio: Judith Mann Costello is a native of Oak Park, Illinois, where she divided her first 20 years between the family bookstore founded by her grandfather and the Frank Lloyd Wright home where she was raised. She has lived in NYC, Florida, and Michigan, and, since 1984, in the Atlanta area. Educated at Northwestern University and Hunter College, she holds a degree in Music Journalism from the University of South Florida. Following a long career as a classical music host for NPR stations WUSF and WFBE, Judith spent 25 years as academic and political officer for the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta, retiring in 2013.