Alison Harding is an American poet and writer. Her work has served as the text for an art song cycle composed by James Lee III, Beyond Mirrors of Color, published in 2018. The two pieces within the cycle are entitles “Is My Voice Too Loud?” and “Nappy.” The work is written for piano, cello, and soprano. Harding’s text portrays the challenges faced by Black women based on their appearances and societal prejudices.

In 2022 during the 25th African American Art Song Alliance, Harding and Lee premiered Beyond Mirrors of Color. The performance featured soprano Christine Jobson, pianist Maria Thompson Corley, and cellist Timothy Holley.

-Lucy Koukoudian

This profile was created during the 2023-2024 academic year as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.