Tag: sjm

“I’ve seen it many times when I’m conducting, and I see young children of various colors sitting in the front three or four rows,” says the new music director of the San Bernardino Symphony in California and the conductor of the historically Black orchestra Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles. “You can just tell, it’s like: ‘Wow, that’s not what I was expecting to see come around the corner.'” – Los Angeles Times

“In general, [new Seattle Opera general director Christina Schippelmann] and others say, the absence of women in top positions results more from systemic factors than intentional discrimination. Rising to the highest levels in the arts means pushing through a series of lower-status, lower-paid jobs, often bouncing all over the planet. Arts managers work long hours but may not earn enough to afford a nanny or to have the other parent stay at home.” – The Seattle Times

Tamara Wilson: “Operas like Aïda and Turandot were written for and performed by white European singers in, what was at that time acceptable, theatrical makeup to make them appear African or Asian. In theatre history, the terms blackface and yellowface would be applied, but today, especially in the U.S., these terms also have historic racist connotations. It is more and more difficult for opera to navigate this line between depicting race versus negative stereotype because they are viewed differently depending on where you are in the world and the individuals in the audience.” – Forbes

“The State and Cathedral Choir of Berlin, founded in 1465 by the ruler of Brandenburg, Fredrick II, promotes ‘free musical education for boys.’ … Since then, the choir, now part of Berlin’s University of the Arts, has grown into a public institution that includes more than 250 singers in 11 ensembles who undergo rigorous [musical] training and perform around the globe.” The family of a nine-year-old girl who was rejected three times has sued, and a ruling is expected on Friday. – The New York Times

“Americans have made a political investment in a myth of racial separateness, the idea that art forms can be either ‘white’ or ‘black’ in character … This country’s music is an advertisement for 400 years of the opposite: centuries of ‘amalgamation’ and ‘miscegenation’ as they long ago called it, of all manner of interracial collaboration conducted with dismaying ranges of consent.” An essay for The 1619 Project by Wesley Morris. – The New York Times Magazine

Joshua Kosman: “Here’s my request for today to creators of contemporary opera: How would it be if we had a new work that did not turn on a female character sacrificing herself to redeem a man? … The Bay Area’s operatic stages this month have been weirdly rife with women eager to throw themselves overboard for a man’s sake, and honestly my patience is starting to wear a little thin.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Lidiya Yankovskaya (a fine example of the phenomenon herself): “In addition to their traditional duties within established institutions, an increasing number of conductors run independent organizations, launch musical and civic initiatives, serve as catalysts for the development of new work, and use their positions to cross disciplinary boundaries. In bypassing institutional gatekeepers, these conductors have brought relevance, vitality, and an expanding number of previously unrepresented voices into the field. Indeed, the dynamic new ‘catalyst-conductor’ could help bring the revitalization that the classical music industry so desperately seeks.” – NewMusicBox

“More and more, critics are going beyond reviews that focus on musicality and technique to report on problems concerning diversity, politics, and workplace culture. Independent publications such as I Care If You Listen, NewMusicBox, and National Sawdust’s The Log reflect a more diverse creative landscape and a more politically-conscious audience. There’s an increasing drive, [Jennifer] Gersten tells CJR, ‘to ask what a given concert is doing for the reputation of an institution and for the field at large … Can we use this concert, this particular piece, as a sign that there are better things to come?’” – Columbia Journalism Review

“From art to science and beyond, the work of historically marginalised groups is being gloriously shared. Except within classical music, that is. And to compound matters, the errors of the past are being repeated today.” – The Guardian