Hold Fast to Dreams - Songs by Florence Price Ted Black & Sascha El Mouissi

• Florence Price (1887 - 1953):
• 1 Price: The Island of my Dreams 02:22
• 2 Price: Hold Fast to Dreams 02:00
• 3 Price: They Lie, they Lie 01:56
• 4 Price: Songs to the Dark Virgin 02:00
• 5 Price: Night 01:50
• 6 Price: Bright be the Place 01:57
• 7 Price: Lethe 01:10
• 8 Price: There be None 01:59
• 9 Price: Love-in-a-mist 02:03
• 10 Price: The Superstitious Ghost 02:32
• 11 Price: Ham & Eggs 01:26
• 12 Price: The Moon Bridge 02:01
• 13 Price: Dawn's Awakening 02:18
• 14 Price: Three Short Songs: No. 1, Day Dawns 01:12
• 15 Price: Three Short Songs: No. 2, The Crescent Moon 00:35
• 16 Price: Three Short Songs: No. 3, The Broken Bowl 01:30
• 17 Price: Because 02:00
• 18 Price: Interim 02:22
• 19 Price: My Little Dreams 01:18
• 20 Price: We Have Tomorrow 01:00
• 21 Price: An April Day 01:30
• 22 Price: Beside the Sea 02:05
• 23 Price: God Gives Me You 02:10
• 24 Price: The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face 02:03
• 25 Price: A White Rose 01:14
• 26 Price: I Grew a Rose 03:17
• 27 Price: Sunset 01:39
• 28 Price: Song is so Old 01:49
• 29 Price: Travel's End 02:19
• 30 Price: 4 Encore Songs: No. 1, Tobacco 00:35
• 31 Price: 4 Encore Songs: No. 2, A Flea and a Fly 00:24
• 32 Price: 4 Encore Songs: No. 3, "Come, come", said Tom's Father 00:33
• 33 Price: 4 Encore Songs: No. 4, Song of the Open Road 00:33
• 34 Price: Little Things 02:24
• Total Runtime 58:06

Info for Hold Fast to Dreams - Songs by Florence Price

On their new album Hold Fast to Dreams, released on our partner label CAvi Music, Tenor Ted Black and pianist Sascha El Mouissi perform songs by composer-pianist Florence B. Price.

“Price’s works combine a fascinating spectrum of intense emotion, buoyant lightness, and playful charm, which captivated me from the very first moment. In particular, her songs, which bear witness to great sensitivity and melodic ingenuity, have made a lasting impression on me in terms of their expressiveness and complexity,” says Mouissi.

A composer advocates for the exchange of different traditions and cultures. "Florence B. Price's works combine a fascinating spectrum of intense emotion, buoyant lightness, and playful charm, which captivated me from the very first moment. In particular, her songs, which bear witness to great sensitivity and melodic ingenuity, have made a lasting impression on me in terms of their expressiveness and complexity. However, it is not only her music that touches me; I also feel profoundly moved by her life story. Florence B. Price was a single mother of two children after separating from her husband. Tragically, she had to cope with the loss of one of her children at an early age - a fate that is sure to have shaped her life profoundly. As an African-American artist, she also had to assert herself in an era characterised by deep-seated racism, and in a world where women in classical music rarely found recognition. Astonishingly, her works have not yet been fully published or featured in the standard repertoire. Her music, culturally rich, full of history, and brimming with emotion, deserves to be elevated to its rightful rank due to its artistic quality. The apparent lack of widespread recognition of Price's oeuvre cannot be explained by a lack of compositional quality, but rather by socio-historical circumstances that marginalised artists like her. It is very surprising that their works have not yet been published in their entirety... " (Excerpt from the line notes by Sascha El Mouissi).

Ted Black, tenor
Sascha El Mouissi, piano

Ted Black
A member of the Oper Graz soloist ensemble tenor Ted Black trained at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Wiener Staatsoper Opernstudio.

The 24/25 season sees him perform the roles of Ferrando Cosí fan Tutte under the baton of Dinis Sousa, Lysander in a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the musical direction of Johannes Braun, and Walther in a new Evgeny Titov production of Tannhäuser under the baton of chief conductor Vassilis Christopoulos (Oper Graz); along with recitals at the Oxford International Song Festival with Dylan Perez, and at the Rathaus Wien with Sascha El Mouissi.

Previous seasons’ highlights at Wiener Staatsoper and elsewhere include Tebaldo I Vespri Siciliani , 2nd Jude Salome , Erik Der Fliegende Holländer für Kinder , Roderigo Otello (Wiener Staatsoper); Ferrando Così fan Tutte and Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Opera Wrocław); Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera Zuid); Tamino Die Zauberflöte (Dorset Opera Festival & Royal College of Music); Gonzalve L’heure Espagnole (Royal College of Music); and the covers of covers of Ferrando Cosi fan Tutte, Chevalier de la Force Dialogues des Carmélites, Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serial, Eurimaco Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Borsa Rigoletto, Rodolphe Guillaume Tell, and Ferdinand The Tempest (Wiener Staatsoper).

A laureate of the Académie Orsay-Royaumont and a Samling Foundation Artist, his extensive concert work has included performances at the Wigmore Hall, Musée d’Orsay, Opéra de Lille, Oxford International Song Festival, the Schoenberg Centre Vienna, Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Festival Hall, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Nieuwe Philharmonie Urecht. He has performed with conductors including Philippe Jordan, Bertrand de Billy, Carlo Rizzi, Alexander Soddy, Marin Alsop, and Martyn Brabbins.

Sascha El Mouissi
is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished and imaginative song pianists of his generation. His vibrant international concert career has taken him to prestigious festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Schubertiade, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Schumannfest at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Dialoge Salzburg, Wiener Festwochen, Istanbul Music Festival, London Arts Festival, Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi, and Concerti al Quirinale of RAI in Rome.

He has appeared in renowned venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Musikverein, Mozarteum Salzburg, Meistersingerhalle Nuremberg, Radiokulturhaus, and the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna. Additional performances have brought him to the Auditorium Cesare Pollini and Sala dei Giganti in Padua, Auditorium Gaber in Milan, St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, as well as the opera houses of Frankfurt, Cologne, Lübeck, Nice, Wiesbaden, Zagreb, and the Volksoper Wien.

El Mouissi collaborates with many internationally acclaimed singers and maintains a particularly close artistic partnership with baritone Rafael Fingerlos. He also performs regularly with Vera-Lotte Boecker, Wolfgang Holzmair, Ted Black, Katia Ledoux, Wolfgang Brendel, Angelika Kirchschlager, Edith Mathis, Thomas Quasthoff, and Ildikó Raimondi, among others.

As a chamber musician, he is a sought-after collaborator, performing with cellists Julia Hagen and Harriet Krijgh, and violinist Benjamin Herzl.

His artistic work is documented in numerous CD and television recordings, some of which have received awards such as the Ö1 Pasticcio Prize. He is currently curating a multi-part recording project of songs by Florence B. Price, in collaboration with WDR and the Avi label.

A dedicated pedagogue, Sascha El Mouissi regularly gives masterclasses and workshops in song interpretation, including at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, AIMS (American Institute of Musical Studies), and the Vienna State Opera. He also serves as a juror at international competitions and is the artistic director of the LIED.Styria festival. Together with musicologist Christa Brüstle, he co-founded the event series Songs of Diversity – Lied im Dialog. He teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Sascha El Mouissi zählt zu den profiliertesten und kreativsten Liedpianisten seiner Generation. Eine rege internationale Konzerttätigkeit führt ihn zu renommierten Festivals wie dem Lucerne Festival, der Schubertiade, dem Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, dem Schumannfest der Tonhalle Düsseldorf, den Dialogen Salzburg, den Wiener Festwochen, dem Istanbul Music Festival, dem London Arts Festival, Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi sowie zu den Concerti al Quirinale der RAI in Rom.

Er gastiert in bedeutenden Konzerthäusern, darunter das Wiener Konzerthaus und der Musikverein, das Salzburger Mozarteum, die Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg, das Radiokulturhaus und das Arnold Schönberg Center in Wien. Weitere Auftritte führten ihn unter anderem in das Auditorium Cesare Pollini und Sala dei Giganti in Padua, das Auditorium Gaber in Mailand, nach St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, in das Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, das Teatro El Círculo in Rosario sowie an die Opernhäuser in Frankfurt, Köln, Lübeck, Nizza, Wiesbaden, Zagreb und an die Volksoper Wien.

Sascha El Mouissi arbeitet mit zahlreichen international renommierten Sängerinnen und Sängern zusammen. Eine besonders enge künstlerische Partnerschaft verbindet ihn mit dem Bariton Rafael Fingerlos. Darüber hinaus konzertiert er unter anderem mit Vera-Lotte Boecker, Wolfgang Holzmair, Ted Black, Katia Ledoux, Wolfgang Brendel, Angelika Kirchschlager, Edith Mathis, Thomas Quasthoff, Ildikó Raimondi u.v.m.

Auch als Kammermusiker ist er ein gefragter Partner, etwa mit den Cellistinnen Julia Hagen und Harriet Krijgh sowie dem Geiger Benjamin Herzl.

Zahlreiche CD- und Fernsehaufnahmen dokumentieren seine künstlerische Arbeit und wurden unter anderem mit dem Ö1-Pasticcio-Preis ausgezeichnet. Derzeit kuratiert er eine mehrteilige Aufnahme-Reihe mit Liedern von Florence B. Price in Kooperation mit dem WDR und dem Label Avi.

Sascha El Mouissi ist ein erfahrener Pädagoge und gibt regelmäßig Meisterkurse und Workshops in Liedinterpretation, unter anderem am Shanghai Music Conservatory, bei AIMS (American Institute of Musical Studies) sowie an der Wiener Staatsoper. Darüber hinaus ist er als Juror bei internationalen Wettbewerben tätig und wirkt als künstlerischer Leiter des Festivals LIED.Styria. Gemeinsam mit der Musikwissenschaftlerin Christa Brüstle initiierte er die Veranstaltungsreihe Songs of Diversity – Lied im Dialog. An der Kunstuniversität Graz unterrichtet er als Senior Lecturer und war dort auch als Gastprofessor tätig.

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