Large photo: Boston Landmarks Orchestra at the Hatch Shell. Photo by Michael Dwyer. Inset: Composer Julia Perry. Photo courtesy of the Julia A. Perry Collection. Talbott Music Library, Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

On July 31 Bay State Banner (Dorchester, Massachusetts) Celina Colby writes: “Christopher Wilkins, music director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, has been committed for years to bringing the works of black composer Julia Perry to the stage. Due to legal challenges and because Perry has no heirs or will, her intellectual property, including published and unpublished compositions, remained tied up. But her efforts have paid off, and one of Perry’s compositions will receive its first premiere here in Boston this weekend… Perry was a composer, pianist, and conductor who began working in the 1940s and continued to do so until her death in 1979. In her compositions, she combined her classical training with influences from her African-American heritage. She studied at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood here in Massachusetts and at the Juilliard School, among other places… She was the recipient of several Guggenheim Fellowships, among many other honors… Sadly, Perry died without a will… Thanks to the work of Wilkins and others, a legacy is being established so that the world can once again enjoy and celebrate Perry’s musicianship. On August 3, the Boston Landmarks Orchestra will perform Perry’s “Three Spirituals,” a previously unpublished work, during a free public concert at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade.”