By Laura Onyeneho
Kaylen Prince grew up in Houston, loving classical music while rarely seeing Black women reflected in it.
From an early age, she trained in piano, mastering a genre rooted in European tradition and often disconnected from the lived experiences of Black communities. What Prince did not realize at the time was that her journey would place her among a small but growing number of Black composers working to expand what classical music can sound like, who it can center, and who it is meant to serve.
Today, Prince is a Houston-born classical composer and pianist whose work blends technical precision with storytelling drawn from Black Southern life. Through her compositions, nonprofit teaching work, and participation in Performing Arts Houston’s artists initiative New/Now, she is pushing back against long-standing barriers in classical music while creating access for the next generation of young musicians.
“I didn’t see myself in classical music. I loved it, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like me.”
Kaylen Prince
“I didn’t see myself in classical music,” Prince said. “I loved it, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like me.”
That began to change when Prince moved to Dallas at 14 to attend Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. There, she met Eva Flowers, her first Black classical piano teacher. Seeing a Black woman fully occupying a space in classical music shifted Prince’s understanding of what was possible.
“She made sure I knew that what I was doing mattered,” Prince said. “She told me people would be watching me one day.”
Prince later earned her undergraduate degree from Texas Woman’s University in 2018. Yet even as her technical skills sharpened, something felt incomplete. Classical training centered on European composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Beethoven, with little acknowledgement of Black composers or their cultural influence.
Prince said she did not learn about Black classical composers until adulthood. When she did, access itself became a barrier.
“To find music by Florence Price or Margaret Bonds, I had to pay hundreds of dollars,” she said. “That music isn’t freely available the way white composers’ music is.”
That realization fueled her decision to compose. About a year ago, Prince scored her first short film at the request of a friend. Despite limited formal training in composition, she trusted her instinct and curiosity. The result affirmed her path.
“I didn’t want to perform,” she said. “I wanted to create.”
Her compositions often center on strings, particularly viola and cello, instruments she says carry emotional weight and gravity. Prince describes her music as an exploration of feelings people tend to suppress, using classical structure to tell deeply personal stories rooted in Black experience.
Her piece for Performing Arts Houston’s New Now initiative, titled The City Sings a Suite for Houston, reflects that approach. Written for strings, the suite traces her childhood memories of Houston and her return as an adult, holding space for joy, grief, disappointment, and clarity.
Alongside her composing work, Prince founded B&W ClHouston composer Kaylen Prince breaks barriers in classical music through representation.assical Academy, a nonprofit based in Dallas that provides accessible classical music education to children and adults in lower-income communities. Partnering with recreation centers and schools, Prince offers lessons on a sliding scale, often teaching students as young as 4.
“Money shouldn’t determine who gets to experience music,” she said. “I want kids to see that classical music is alive. It’s not just history.”
Prince also encourages parents to participate, demystifying classical music and removing the perception that it belongs only in elite spaces.
That visibility matters, especially as Prince navigates an industry where age limits, limited access, and underrepresentation continue to restrict opportunity. She said collaboration among Black musicians remains essential to opening doors.
Imani Rousselle, a composer and jazz artist who has known Prince since high school, said their friendship has long been rooted in shared curiosity rather than conscious trailblazing.
As a professional musician herself, Rousselle said she has witnessed firsthand how many Black children never learn what is possible in music, not only as a career but as a source of emotional and spiritual grounding.
“Some kids don’t even know the opportunities exist,” Rousselle said. “Their schools might have had budget cuts, or they never had a music program at all.”
She said Prince’s nonprofit work stands out because it addresses that gap directly, offering not just instruction but care.
“Having someone who clearly cares about their development step up in that way is really important,” Rousselle said. “Music can be a release. It can change how you understand yourself and what’s possible in your life.”
On Mar 20-21 at the Wortham Center, Prince will be performing as part of Performing Arts Houston’s New/Now initiative.
