Designers are busy putting the final touches to this year’s WOW!house installations. Lending an ear is harpsichordist and arts executive Leslie Kwan, whose talent for turning texture into sound has let her unlock the inner feeling at the heart of each display
This ABC board book combines entertainment with education. A Is For Aretha celebrates Black women who have used music to encourage activism.
These women have used their platforms to create meaningful artistry that promotes self-love, respect, racial equality and more. Their creativity and joy radiates through these pages, so be sure to read it with your musical prodigy.
Making a Mark on Musical History: Flack, Franklin, and Beach | Biography Spotlight
What do Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, and Amy Cheney Beach have in common? They’re all groundbreaking women who made a mark on music history. Share these picture book biographies to inspire the next generation of talented performers.
Join us as American harpsichordist and author Leslie Kwan and interviewer Linton Stephens discuss how these women, whose music encouraged joy and self-love, advocated for racial justice, buoyed civil rights protests, and trailblazed paths for Black creatives that are still felt to this day. Streamed live.
January 27, 2023
BBC Radio 3Music Matters Tom Service sat down with American harpsichordist and author Leslie Kwan about her new book, A IS FOR ARETHA, which features 26 portraits of inspiration Black women in music.
January 23, 2023
Music Teacher Magazine The American harpsichordist, orchestra and creative wellness media company founder has now also turned author with A for Aretha, an ABC board book featuring 26 Black female musicians whose artistry and activism have made history. Hattie Fisk catches up with her to find out more.
January 1, 2023
CLASSIC FM ‘They would put white musicians on the cover’ – author spotlights music history’s trailblazing Black women.”
James Nicolson is an American harpsichordist and virginalist. The only child of Jamaican parents, he started piano lessons at the age of four and studied at the Howard University School of Music’s Junior Preparatory Department.
James Nicolson is an American harpsichordist and virginalist. The only child of Jamaican parents, he started piano lessons at the age of four and studied at the Howard University School of Music’s Junior Preparatory Department.
Nicolson was interviewed by Leslie Kwan.
March 2021
Early Music America
L’Académie at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: An interview with Leslie Kwan
EMA Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Brandon Labadie, caught up with Leslie Kwan over the phone last February to discuss her work with her ensemble, L’Academie, in the Boston hospital system. Since 2012, L’academie has been presenting French Baroque music to the patients of Dana Faber Cancer Institute and has recently financial support for their outreach programs from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Leslie gives EMA the story behind L’academie’s beginnings, how she feels the group’s music making has made an impact, and what other projects might be on the horizon.
