Avril Coleridge-Taylor - Piano Concerto & Orchestral Works (Samantha Ege; John Andrews)

Information

Composer: Avril Coleridge-Taylor

• Piano Concerto in F Minor
• Comet Prelude
• Sussex Landscape
• To April
• From the Hills
• Valse Caprice
• In Memoriam - To the R.A.F.
• In Memoriam

Samantha Ege, piano

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

John Andrews, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Resonus Classics

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This landmark recording is the first album dedicated entirely to Avril Coleridge-Taylor, a composer, conductor, pianist, and singer of exceptional versatility, long overshadowed by her father, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Featuring world-premiere recordings of her major orchestral works, the album showcases her distinctive, assured, and deeply personal musical voice. These performances celebrate her creativity and resilience, offering insight into the experiences of a woman of colour in twentieth-century Britain, and finally placing Coleridge-Taylor’s artistry at the forefront of recognition.

Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903–1998), the only daughter of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, was a prodigious talent, publishing her first composition at age twelve and earning piano and composition scholarships to Trinity College of Music at thirteen. She became a notable conductor, debuting at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1933 and leading orchestras including the London Symphony and BBC Symphony, as well as founding her own Coleridge-Taylor Symphony Orchestra. Of mixed-race heritage, she initially identified as English and experienced racial discrimination, particularly during apartheid-era South Africa. She composed orchestral works, chamber music, art songs, and ceremonial commissions, sometimes using the pseudonym Peter Riley to have her music judged on its own merits.

Samantha Ege is a pianist, author, and music historian renowned for championing under-represented composers, particularly African American and British women. Her 2024 book, South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene, was praised by BBC Music Magazine as a corrective to the “Great Man” narrative. As a performer, she made her Barbican debut in 2021, giving the UK premiere of Kaprálová’s Sonata Appassionata, and has appeared internationally with orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic and Yale Philharmonia. Her acclaimed recordings include works by Florence Price, Ethel Bilsland, and others. In 2026, she will premiere Avril Coleridge-Taylor’s Piano Concerto and release a new recording of British-inspired concertos.