On Monday 8 March, Professor Shirley Thompson OBE, Composer and Professor of Music, was the featured composer for International Womens’ Day in the African Concert Series.
Funded by the Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants, The African Concert Series London adopts education across cultures to help people learn about African cultures through music. Their work highlights composers and artists who reflect the diversity of the community with the mission to inspire the younger generation to explore their heritage through music.
The series, launched in 2019 by award-winning pianist Rebeca Omordia, features ten monthly concerts at the October Gallery in London and is streamed virtually. Hailed by the BBC World Service as “African art music makes a comeback”, the programme of the event series reflects the diversity of African art music which forms a bridge between Western classical music and traditional African music.
To mark International Women’s Day, soprano Francesca Chiejina and pianist Dylan Perez prepared a song recital of music by African composers, including Professor Shirley Thompson, Ayo Bankole, Laz Ekwueme and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Professor Thompson has had many successes in her music career to date, from being the first woman in Europe to have composed and conducted a symphony in the last 40 years to being named as one of the top most influential Black people in the UK on the Powerlist 2021.
Talking about the event, Professor Shirley Thompson said: “I feel exceedingly honoured to be featured for International Women’s Day in this trailblazing concert series. It is exciting to see the major impact of art music from the continent of Africa which houses 54 countries. I was very pleased to speak extensively about the event, along with my recent orchestral commissions on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme”.
Listen to the BBC Radio 3 In Tune programme on the BBC Sounds website.
Find out more about Music courses offered at the University of Westminster.
