Daily Classical Music Post

This February, the Daily Classical Music Post celebrates Black composers and musicians whose music has been suppressed and ignored. All of these musicians should be added to the music history and music theory curriculum. https://youtu.be/9X3j_76VBvI Julius Eastman (1940–1990) brilliantly combined minimalism with pop music. He studied at Ithaca College before transferring to Curtis. He originally was a pianist but switched to composition while at Curtis. He also was an extraordinarily talented singer; here’s a link to him singing Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King : https://youtu.be/JuU9WqnrKOs . Much of Eastman’s music explores both his Black and his gay identity. He increasingly felt that he was not given the opportunities that he should have been given, and he turned to alcohol and drugs. He died homeless, broken, and alone, and his death was not even remarked upon until eight months after he died. Lukas Foss said, “He had an unbelievable voice, and so much talent he di...