1924 - 1979
Julia Perry occupied a unique place among black composers during the 1950's. Her sex and long years of study in Europe are to be considered in discussing both the black and American composers in America. She studied voice, piano, and composition under Switten at Westminister Choir College, 1943 - 1948 (B.M. and M.M.). She engaged in compositionalstudy under Luigi Dallapiccola at the Berkshire Music Center. Between 1952 and 1957, Perry studied under a Guggenheim Fellowship with Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy; Nadia Boulanger in Paris; received the Boulanger Grand Prix; received a second Guggenheim; studied conducting at the Academia Chigiana in Seina, Italy; and performed a series of European concerts under the United States Information Agency. Perry was on the music faculty at Florida A&M University in 1967. Perry wrote in all musical forms in a style described as neoclassical, using many twentieth century compositional techniques. Among her published compositions are: "Homunculus C, F," "Symphony No. 6," "Song of our Savior" (SATB), "THe Cask of Amontillado" (one act opera).
Source: Perkins Holly, Ellistine. Biographies of Black Composers and Songwriters; A Supplementary Textbook. Iowa:Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990.
