Ethiopia's Shadow in America is an orchestral composition written by Florence Price in 1932. It received honorable mention for piano pieces in that year's Rodman Wanamaker Music Contest.[1][2]
According to Florence Price, the three linked movements are intended to portray:
I. Introduction and Allegretto: The Arrival of the Negro in America when first brought here as a slave.
II. Andante: His Resignation and Faith.
III. Allegro: His Adaptation, a fusion of his native and acquired impulses.
Many of Price's works, including this, were lost for a long time and were found again in 2009. Ethiopia's Shadow was performed by the University of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in January 2015.[3] On September 30, 2018, Jordan Randall Smith conducted the Hopkins Concert Orchestra in a performance he claims is the first East Coast performance.[4][5][6] On March 8, 2020, the Washington, DC, premiere of Ethiopia's Shadow in America was performed by the DC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Randall Stewart.[7] The work was performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra on November 13, 2021.[8]
This work was included in an album by the New York Youth Symphony that won the 2023 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance.[9]
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