Student pairing leads to professional collaboration and spotlight on African-American composers

The musical collaboration of pianist Artina McCain and soprano Icy Simpson started as a last-minute music student thing.

Just a couple years back, when both musicians were in graduate school at the University of Texas’ Butler School of Music, McCain needed a vocalist to join her in a required recital. She tapped Simpson. And the two performed “Three Dream Portraits” by noted African-American composer Margaret Bonds, who set three poems by Langston Hughes to music.

Read the complete story on the all-new MyStatesman.com »

Keep reading! There's more to the story...

We invite you to experience total access to our subscriber website, MyStatesman.com. Any story marked with a means it is premium content — and it continues on the all-new site. Premium stories, plus all the news from the printed edition of the paper, are included. Until June 11, you can enjoy a free preview of all the premium content on MyStatesman.com.

Get Access

Want to get access?

If you are a subscriber to the Austin American-Statesman, you already have total access to MyStatesman.com. Just register your account here for uninterrupted access, included in your subscription.