It was a June night in Chicago and the 1933 World's Fair was on dazzling display. Its theme of invention and innovation was everywhere. New technology, cultural attractions, art, and music. The music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra wanted to make a contribution to the fair, known as the Century of Progress, which would be fresh and totally American.

So this night, history was made as the CSO played a classical score

composed by the first black woman to ever have a symphony performed by any major U.S. orchestra.

And she was a Chicagoan. Her name was Florence Price.

Music was a Chicagoan. Her name was Florence Price.

Jason Mark here, and recently we got a question from Shari Ebert. She's a retired Iran who's now a full-time musician in Kankakee, just south of Chicago.

She knows some things about Florence Price.

Earlier this year, her symphony performed a price score, and she's also tuned into an unusual find.

In 2009, a couple renovating an abandoned house was shocked when they found pages and pages of handwritten music and notes all belonging to Florence Price.

I live in Kankakee, not far from where her music was discovered in this abandoned home.

So I was very interested to learn more about Florence.

There was so much of it, in fact, that it took scholars a decade to sift through and organize these

papers. And a few years ago, the musical works in this discovery started to be released

to the world. Now Florence Price is beginning to be known more widely, and symphonies

everywhere, like Shari's to know more about the composer herself and her life in Chicago.

So she reached out to Curia City, of course, asking for more.

And we turned to contributor Ariane Nettles.

She's going to help us tell Price's story and her impact on classical music.

That's coming up next.

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