Born in Chicago, IL, 3 March 1913
Died in Los Angeles, CA, 26 April 1972
- Margaret Bonds studied piano and composition during her high school years in Chicago with Florence Price and William Levi Dawson. She went on to earn degrees from Northwestern University and The Julliard School.
- In 1933, Bonds appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Florence Price’s Piano Concerto. She was the first African-American woman to appear as a soloist with the Chicago SO.
- Bonds was an especially prolific composer of vocal works. She composed musicals, choral music and songs, and frequently collaborated (in each of these genres) with poet Langston Hughes. She also arranged spirituals, many commissioned by Leontyne Price .1
Sources
- Barbara Garvey Jackson and Dominique-René de Lerma, “Bonds [Richardson], Margaret Allison,” Grove Music Online (September 30, 2020), accessed June 9, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-90000318953.