Pianist and composer Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004) was a piano student of composer R. Nathaniel Dett. She moved to Rochester, New York to study with...

Pianist and composer Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-2004) was a piano student of composer R. Nathaniel Dett. She moved to Rochester, New York to study with him. After a few lessons with Cortez Reece at Langston University in Oklahoma, Perry began to think seriously about composition. All of the tracks on this album were at some point performed by Mrs. Perry in concert. She continued performing through her 80's, and even taught until her 90's. One of the most interesting works on this album is the Suite from Tawawa House, Perry's opera that was premiered in 1987. The opera tells the story of a hotel in Ohio in which escaped slaves, freed slaves, and mixed-race children of slave owners are staying, and shows the complex relationships between black and white Americans in the pre-Civil war era.