Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a British composer and conductor whose music won wide admiration in Britain and America. Born in London to an English mother and a father from Sierra Leone, he studied at the Royal College of Music with Charles Villiers Stanford.

His breakthrough came with Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, a choral work that became immensely popular and led to further pieces inspired by Longfellow’s poem. He also wrote orchestral music, chamber works, songs and part-songs.

Coleridge-Taylor’s music combines late Romantic warmth with melodic generosity and a strong choral instinct. He was also interested in African and African-American musical identity, and was celebrated by Black cultural leaders during his visits to the United States.

His early death robbed British music of a composer still growing in confidence and range. The renewed attention to his work has restored a voice of grace, ambition and historical importance to the centre of the conversation.