The Montgomery Variations

Born in Chicago in 1913 into a politically engaged family: her father, a doctor and writer, was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and her mother was a musician and teacher. She received a comprehensive musical education from her mother and Florence Price (her mentor), as well as at the Chicago Musical College, at Northwestern University (Illinois), and the Juilliard School. The first Black woman to perform as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933, she performed Florence Price’s Piano Concerto the following year under the composer’s direction at Chicago World’s Fair. She spent most of her life in New York City, where she founded a chamber music society and became involved in the Harlem community. Bonds composed numerous works, including many melodies and arrangements of spirituals, stage music, ballet music, and choral music, including the Christmas cantata The Ballad of the Brown King and the Mass in D minor. She retired to Los Angeles in 1967 and died there five years later.