Valerie Coleman

Born: September 3, 1970, Louisville, Kentucky

Umoja (“Unity”)

• Composed: 2001
  
• Premiere: 2001 by Imani Winds
  
• Duration: approx. 3 minutes

Valerie Coleman is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy-nominated composer and flutist. One of the most performed living composers in the world, she has been highlighted as one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by The Washington Post, selected as Orchestra of St. Luke’s 2022 “Gift of Music” honoree and named Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the Year, an honor conferred on an individual who has made a significant contribution to classical music as a performer, composer or educator. Her works have garnered awards including the MAPFund, ASCAP Honors Award, Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program and Herb Alpert Ragdale Residency Award, as well as nominations from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and United States Artists.

In February 2024, Coleman was appointed to the composition department faculty at The Juilliard School. She is the director of the woodwind quintet workshop at Boston University Tanglewood Institute and holds a faculty position with the Manhattan School of Music. 

Among the highlights of her recent seasons, Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra (Renaissance) made its world premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in 2024. May 2025 brought the world premiere of Coleman’s All the People with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where Coleman was a featured Sandbox Composer-in-Residence during the 2024–25 season. Her Piano Concerto premiered in June 2026 with the National Symphony Orchestra and Michelle Cann.  

In addition to multiple commissions at Carnegie Hall, Coleman’s works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Library of Congress and the American Composers Orchestra, as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the United Kingdom.

Coleman’s compositions are published by Theodore Presser and her own company, Coleman Page. valeriecoleman.com| primoartists.com

Of her anthem Umoja, which was chosen by Chamber Music America as one of the “Top 101 Great American Ensemble Works” and is now a staple of woodwind literature, she writes:

Umoja is the Swahili word for “unity” and is the first day of seven in the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa. The original composition calls for unity through the tradition of call and response and was first meant to be a simple family sing-along song for Kwanzaa. Coleman arranged the work for woodwind quintet during the genesis of her chamber music ensemble, Imani Winds, with the intent of providing an anthem that celebrated the diverse heritages of the ensemble members. It soon became a signature piece of the ensemble.

The melody is mainly a horn solo with supporting rhythms from the upper winds and a constant motor played by the bassoon. Even though the meter is in 3/4 time, the melody and percussive upper wind accompaniment is mostly phrased in 6/8 when there is syncopation. Most importantly, the entire feel should be in 1.

In 2019, Coleman created an orchestral version of Umoja for symphony orchestra, on commission from The Philadelphia Orchestra.