The Regional Composers Forum of the Southeastern Composers’ League was held annually at the University of Alabama from 1950 to 1970. The Forum was the brain child of two UA faculty members, Gurney Kennedy and Paul Newell, and its goal was to provide a venue for rehearsals, readings, and concerts of works by composers in the Southeast. The Forum also regularly featured well-known composers, including Lukas Foss, Vincent Persichetti, Ross Lee Finney, Norman Dello Joio, and many others. In the spring of 2016, Dr. Linda Cummins and the students in her graduate music history seminar, MUS 626, undertook an online project to document the history of the Forum. They brought together materials held by the Hoole Special Collections Library and conducted research on the composers who attended the Forum over the years. The project when complete, will illuminate a fascinating aspect of music history in the southeastern United States in the mid-twentieth century.
Project Collaborators: Linda Cummins (Music), Cynthia Miller (Music and Performing Arts Librarian), Emma Annette Wilson (ADHC), Tyler Grace (ADHC)