A Resource on Vocal Works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) Composers

This resource was initially commissioned by the University of Toronto’s Voice Studies Program, made possible by a generous gift from Dianne W. Henderson. I now maintain this in my free time. I hope this being readily available will encourage more singers to program repertoire by these fantastic composers.

If you are a composer and would like to be added to this resource, please submit your repertoire using the following form:

If you are listed and would like repertoire to be altered or removed from this resource, please e-mail me using my contact form.

Author’s Note

Welcome to what I hope will be an exciting resource as you engage with racial equity within your programming. While I am very excited to have you here, it’s important to keep in mind that programming is one step of many. To focus solely on programming in your pursuit of fostering an equitable environment is not enough. Let your programming further inspire, and be a reflection of, the equity work you engage with throughout the rest of your life.

Please consider this a jumping-off point. The song selections are just suggestions: I have included many databases and anthologies that I encourage you to explore. Search, research, and dive deep. Inform your decisions about cultural responsibility and what repertoire is “for you” by listening to great BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) scholars, thinkers, and performers in our field who are speaking on these subjects. Many of these thinkers will have varied, nuanced opinions; it is not their job to give you one clean answer, as the topics of cultural appropriation and ownership are complex and nuanced. Listen closely and reflect.

Go beyond this list: your peers are writing music too. Support young composers. Pay them. This goes for all composers; if you reach out to anyone listed in this resource, you must offer to pay them for their scores. You are not doing them a favour by programming their music: to imply so by not offering payment for their work, especially in the context of equity work, is insulting and regressive.

Mostly importantly, do not tokenize these composers. If you are programming a piece because it is on this list, but cannot answer the question “why do I love this music?” I urge you to think longer. Do not reach out to composers because of their race, reach out because you have listened to their music and are enthusiastic about it. Your allyship in programming must center the music. Develop your taste, use your ears, and discover excellent composers whose music you love.

Databases

This section includes a listing of various online resources around programming BIPOC composers, focusing mostly on repertoire and composer databases. 

The African-American Art Song Alliance

“Founded in 1997, this is the home of interchange between performers and scholars interested in art song by African-American composers. Here you will find information and links to assist with your discovery of our contribution to song.”
Artsongalliance.org

African Diaspora Music Project

“A Compilation of original works by composers in the African Diaspora. All research associated with this project is owned and presented by Dr. Louise Toppin and Videmus."
www.africandiasporamusicproject.org/

Castle of Our Skins

“Castle of our Skins is deeply aware of the lack of equity in composer representation on concert stages and the omission of important stories and figures in Black history. It is this lack of equity that we seek to change.”
For vocal repertoire, visit their Repertoire page and scroll down to Vocal. Please also check out their Resources and Biba Blog. 
www.castleskins.org

The Center for Black Music Research

“The Center for Black Music Research's mission is to illuminate the significant role that black music plays in world culture by serving as a nexus for all who value black music, promoting scholarly thought and knowledge about black music, and providing a haven for the materials and information that document the black music experience across Africa and the diaspora.”
http://cbmr-webapps.colum.edu/archon/

Composers Equity Project

Compiled by Chamber Music America, this database includes women, gender non-conforming, and ALAANA (African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American) composers. Links are included to each composer’s website; from there you can look for vocal repertoire they have personally listed. 
https://www.chamber-music.org/pdf/2019-CCP/Composers-Equity-Project.pdf

Composers of Color Resource Project

This site hosts a series of resources around composers of color, including a chronological list and some scores. They also offer anti-racist teaching examples for theory, as well as annotated scores and lesson plans that incorporate the music of composers of color.
https://composersofcolor.hcommons.org/

Music by Black Composers

Music by Black Composers (MBC) was founded in 2001 as a project of the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation. It’s mission is “to inspire Black students to begin and continue instrumental training by showing them that they are an integral part of classical music’s past as well as its future, to make the music of Black composers available to all people regardless of background or ethnicity, and to help bring greater diversity to the ranks of performers, composers, and audiences, and help change the face of classical music and its canon.”
Under Resources is both a Living Composers Directory and a Historic Composers Directory, with links to composers’ websites; from there you can look for vocal repertoire they have personally listed.
www.musicbyblackcomposers.org

Resources for Diversity in Early Music Repertoire

This resource was compiled for the early music community by members and friends of Early Music America and the EMA Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Taskforce. “This list was initiated by an EMA member as a list of Black composers active before 1850. EMA and the IDEA Taskforce recognizes this is not an exhaustive list of BIPOC composers and invites others to use the form on this page to submit additional composers and resources for inclusion.”
https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/resources/resources-for-diversity-in-early-music-repertoire/

Song of America

“Launched in November 2009, Song of America is a project of the Hampsong Foundation. Their goal is to build and curate a comprehensive archive of American song that tells the story of our culture and nation, through the eyes of our poets and the ears of our composers”. 
Although not specifically a resource for BIPOC composers, there are a fair amount of African-American composers included that make this resource worth a look.
www.songofamerica.net

Anthologies

This section includes published anthologies. It also includes links to composer websites with extensive vocal catalogues, accompanied either by purchase links or an easily available method of contact. A reminder: if you contact any composer from this list for a score you must offer to pay them for it.  

Vocal Works of H. Leslie Adams
Purchase through American Composers Alliance

Vocal Works of Karim Al-Zand
Scroll to Vocal Works to View Scores and Listen

Vocal Works of Margaret Bonds
Purchase Scores

Selected Songs for Voice and Piano by Harry Burleigh
Scores

Vocal works of Anthony Davis
Purchase Scores

Vocal Works of Mohammed Fairouz
Purchase through Hal Leonard

Vocal Works of Gabriela Lena Frank, published by G. Schirmer
View and Purchase

Selected Songs by Joyce Solomon Moorman
Contact Composer

Vocal Works of Shawn E. Okpebholo
View Works
Contact Composer

Vocal Works of Robert Owens
Purchase Scores

44 Songs by Florence Price
Purchase Score
Purchase PDF 

Vocal Works of Roberto Sierra
Scroll to Vocal Works to Purchase Scores

Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers
UofT Library
Purchase

Anthology of Latin American and Iberian Art Songs by Women Composers
Purchase

Art Songs and Spirituals by African American Women Composers
Buy Score

The Art Song in Latin America: Selected Works by 20th-Century Composers
UofT Library

New Anthology of Art Songs by African American Composers
Purchase

Selected Works for Voice

This section includes selections for each voice “type.” Please do not consider this a complete list: each of the composers listed has other works to be explored, and colleagues who equally merit deep exploration. Songs selected were largely prioritized by the availability of score and recording. Canadian composers are denoted by an asterisk. A reminder: if you contact any composer from this list for a score, you must offer to pay them for it.

Soprano

Assad, Clarice – Confessions
Soprano, Piano trio (reduction available)
Purchase Score

Chen, Justine – Philomel
Soprano, Piano
Listen
E-mail Composer

D’Rivera, Paquito – Ode to the Promised Land
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Published in the Opera America Songbook, Purchase

Fung, Vivian* – Songs of Childhood
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Golijov, Osvaldo – Lua Descolorida
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Guidry, Clifton Joseph III - This Just Don’t Make No Sense
Soprano, Double Bass, Oboe
Listen
Contact Composer for Score

Hsu, Andrew – philtrum
Soprano, Cello
Listen
Contact Composer (scroll to bottom of site)

Kendall, Hannah – Incident
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Kim, Earl – Earthlight
Soprano, Violin, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Kim, Earl – Now&Then
Soprano, Flute, Harp, Viola
Listen
Purchase Score

León, Tania – Atwood Songs
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Nourbakhsh, Niloufar – Thistle, Serenade
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Perry, Zenobia Powell – The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llab
Soprano, Piano, Flute
Listen
Purchase Score

Ruo, Huang – Second Breath
Soprano (playing Tibetan finger cymbals), Piano
Listen
Published in the Opera America Songbook, Purchase

Sankaram, Kamala – The Bitter Suite
Soprano, Viola, Cello, Acoustic bass, Electric guitar
Listen
Purchase Score

Shekar, Nina – Food Fight
Soprano, Alto saxophone, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Shirazi, Aida – A Girl
Soprano, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Singleton, Alvin – Between Sisters
Soprano, Alto flute, Vibraphone, and Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Thompson, Richard – Songs of Solitude
Soprano, Piano
Contact Composer (scroll to bottom right of homepage)

Zohn-Muldoon, Ricardo – Night
Soprano, Violin
Listen
Contact Composer

Mezzo-Soprano

Castro, Christopher – Storm Fear
Mezzo-soprano, Piano
Contact Composer

Croall, Barbara* – Bigiiwe (She is Coming Home)
Mezzo-soprano, Piano (with staging, choreography and lighting design)
Contact Composer

Cusson, Ian* – Where There’s a Wall
Mezzo-Soprano, piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Esmail, Reena – This Love Between Us, movement 5
Mezzo-Soprano, Violin, Piano
Purchase Score and Listen

Frank, Gabriela Lena – Cuatro Canciones Andinas
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Listen
Listen, View, and Purchase Score

Garcia, José Maurício Nunes – Beijo a mão que me condena
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Listen
Score

Lavista, Mario – Dos Canciones
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Purchase Score

León, Tania – To and Fro
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

McKiver, Beverly* – Boozhoo Manoomin Suite
Voice, Flute, Piano and Cello or Viola
Listen and information
Contact Composer

Montgomery, Jessie – Loisaida, My Love
Mezzo-Soprano, Cello
Purchase Score

Moorman, Joyce Solomon – “Oh Scion” from Elegies for the Fallen
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Purchase Score

Negrón, Angélica – Pensamiento No. 1
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Purchase Score

Perry, Julia – How Beautiful are the Feet
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Purchase Score

Sosa, Jorge – Song of the Last Crossing 
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Listen
Published in the Opera America Songbook, Purchase

Valverde, Mari Esabel – The Soul Selects Her Own Society
Mezzo-Soprano, Piano
Listen
Order from Composer

Tenor

Assad, Clarice – Enquanto a noite durar
Tenor, Guitar
Purchase Score

Fairouz, Mohammed – Four Haiku Poems
Tenor, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Perry, Zenobia Powell – Spring Song (Cycle on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Tenor, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Sankaram, Kamala – The Far Shore
Tenor, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Baritone/Bass

Alberga, Eleanor – The Soul’s Expression
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel – 6 Sorrow Songs, Op. 57
Baritone, Piano
Listen 
Purchase Score

Davis, Anthony – Sound, Breaking Away
Bass-baritone, Piano
Listen
Published in the Opera America Songbook, Purchase

Fung, Vivian* – Six Haiku
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Okpebholo, Shawn E. – Two Black Churches
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Contact Composer

Sankaram, Kamala – The Last Blast of Anthony the Trumpeter 
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Simon, Carlos – Prayer and Solitude
Baritone, Piano
Contact Composer

Walker, George – And Wilt Thou Leave Me Thus
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score

Walker, George – Take, O Take Those Lips Away
Baritone, Piano
Listen
Purchase Score