Honoring Black History Month Through Music in Columbus

As a board member with Chamber Music Columbus, Denison cello faculty Cora Kuyvenhoven has recently been highlighted by the Columbus Dispatch for her work with the organization and their Black History Month programming. The organization has aimed to utilize February as an opportunity to showcase the work of the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra in Los Angeles and the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra in New York. Inspired by that concept, Kuyvenhoven suggested that Chamber Music Columbus include a recent recording of UCelli: The Columbus Cello Quartet, of which she is a member. UCelli recently made a video recording of “Four Women” by Black composer Mark Lomax II.

“Four Women” evokes the image and work of Angolan Queen Nzinga (1583-1663), journalist and NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), civil-rights activist Angela Davis, 77, and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 43.

The videos of the performances by the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra in Los Angeles, the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra in New York, and Columbus’s own UCelli: The Columbus Cello Quartet can be found for free.