In New Podcast, Kahng Discusses the Florence Price Preservation Project

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Er-Gene Kahng, associate professor of music.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – “I tried to have the best conversation I could with Florence Price’s manuscript, and I feel there’s something quite deep emotionally.”

In this new Short Talks From the Hill, a podcast from the University of Arkansas, violin professor Er-Gene Kahng discusses her personal discovery of Arkansas composer Florence Price, the first black woman to be recognized as a major symphonic composer.

Several years ago, Kahng and James Greeson, professor emeritus of music, combed through Price’s manuscripts, housed at University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections, and discovered Price’s violin concertos, including one concerto that historians did not know existed.

Kahng eventually recorded the concertos with the Janacek Philharmonic, an internationally recognized orchestra in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The recordings will be released in February.

As part of the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, Kahng will perform Price’s re-discovered Violin Concerto No. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at The Arend Arts Center in Bentonville. Tickets and more information about the event can be found here. 

To listen to Kahng talk about Price’s life and work – as well as snippets of Kahng performing Price’s concertos – go to ResearchFrontiers.uark.edu, the home of research news at the University of Arkansas. Listeners can also find Short Talks From the Hill podcasts under the “Local & Podcast” link at KUAF.com.

To learn more about Kahng’s work on the Florence Price Preservation Project and to watch and listen to Kahng playing Price’s concertos, visit Research Frontiers. 

Short Talks From the Hill highlights research and scholarly work at the University of Arkansas. Each segment features a university researcher discussing his or her work. For more information and additional podcasts, click on the Multimedia link at ResearchFrontiers.uark.edu.