Michael Repper Champions Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in New York Times Feature

Photo Credit (left to right): András Grausz, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Michael Repper embarked on a massive research and recording project of the composer’s works.

Eleanor Stanford from The New York Times spoke with Repper about this undertaking, which included going note by note through Coleridge-Taylor’s manuscripts, unearthed by the Library of Congress and the British Library, and ensuring that each piece was performable and accessible. Among those published include Coleridge-Taylor’s “24 Negro Melodies,” which is featured on Repper’s recent album with the National Philharmonic and violinist Curtis Stewart.

Repper remarks that engaging with Coleridge-Taylor’s music is important “because it reminds us how much passion, emotion, and love can be in every note.” He believes that the composer deserves to be widely appreciated because the “quality of his musicianship, the quality of his writing, merits it.”

Read the full article from The New York Times here.

Listen to the album here.

Photo Credit: Elman Studio