Early in his composing career, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor met African American poet Laurence Dunbar who encouraged him to explore his West African-Sierra Leone roots.  One result was his effervescent Danse nègre – a celebration of dance and rhythm and West African energy. 

Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev wrote his exquisite Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1935 for French violin virtuoso Robert Soetens.  Filled with quick-changing moods, sarcasm, jaw-droppingly beautiful lyricism, and unexpected instruments, the Concerto is one of Prokofiev’s most popular. 

French composer Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (1830) has been described by some as the “beginning of modern music.” It incorporated a psychological idea – a musical version of an obsession called an idée fixe – as a symphonically unifying factor, setting the pace for a wild narrative of an increasingly unhinged Artist in love and his opium-laced nightmares.  It’s one of the most engrossing symphonies ever written.