Boosey & Hawkes is teaming up with Videmus Inc. to publish the previously unavailable catalog of music by Julia Perry.

The composer, who died in 1979, was born in Kentucky and raised in Ohio. Her “Study for Orchestra’ was performed at the New York Philharmonic in 1965 and she was also the winner of Prix Fontainebleau and two Guggenheim Fellowships. Following a paralytic stroke in 1970, Perry learned to write with her left hand and resumed composing. However, per musicologist J. Michele Edwards, “she endured tragic emotional and financial difficulties.”

There will be dozens of works published ranging from orchestral to choral to chamber and songs. Among Perry’s works immediately available are the “Quinary Quixotic Songs for bass-baritone and ensemble (1976).” Future releases are “Hymn to Pan” for choir and the three-act opera “The Selfish Giant: A Sacred Musical Fable.”

“Julia Perry’s prominence in music history as an African American woman composer has been erased for too long,” said Dr. Louise Toppin, the director of Videmus, a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of concert works by African American, women, and under-presented composers. “Her story as a rising star in the world of composition and conducting during the years of extreme segregation in the United States is both compelling and astonishing. Her compositions (although to date her known output is small) show craftsmanship of the highest caliber that appeal to performers and audiences alike. Many of her compositions remain lost. Videmus is devoted to uncovering any works that still lie in publishers’ archives, university libraries, or in public or private collections. The neglect Perry’s music has faced is not unique. We hope that this endeavor might serve as a model for others seeking to bring additional works of unjustly ignored composers to light.”