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Where are the Black musicians in the country’s largest orchestras? : NPR


Boston Symphony Orchestra 2016.

Jessica Rinaldi / Boston Globe / Getty Images


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Jessica Rinaldi / Boston Globe / Getty Images


Boston Symphony Orchestra 2016.

Jessica Rinaldi / Boston Globe / Getty Images

In 2014, the Federation of American Orchestras, a service organization representing professional and amateur symphony orchestras across the United States, publish a study on diversity and found that only 1.4% of the orchestra’s musicians were Black.

Jennifer Arnold, co-founder of the Black Orchestral Network, said that by 2022, it’s hard to say whether that number has improved or deteriorated. Arnold spent 15 seasons playing the viola with the Oregon Symphony and is currently the artistic planning and operations director of the Richmond Symphony.

Jennifer Arnold of the Black Orchestra Network is calling for more data – so they can figure out how many musicians in the orchestra are black.

Jennifer Arnold


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Jennifer Arnold


Jennifer Arnold of the Black Orchestra Network is calling for more data – so they can figure out how many musicians in the orchestra are black.

Jennifer Arnold

“There is a real need to be transparent about what is happening in the industry, about Black people,” Arnold said. “We don’t know how many blacks are in the orchestras. And I say that as a representative of the Black Orchestra Network. One of our appeals is, let’s start recording. Find out if we did better than that 1.4%. That’s 1.4% that’s on a good basis, “I saw a Negro on that stage in that orchestra.” It’s not data.”

In the experience of harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, Black musicians in the orchestra can feel isolated. She told a podcast produced by the Black Orchestral Network that when she joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1969, she was its first Black musician.

“When I looked around the orchestra, I didn’t see anyone in it that looked like me,” she said. “And it was another 20 years before another Black player was hired, it was Owen Young, the great cellist. And when I left 20 years later, Owen Young became the only black player in the BSO. ” He’s still the same.

Black Orchestra Network arose from Zoom special gatherings during the pandemic and following the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests. But the participants decided to make it an official organization. Alex Laing, who plays the clarinet with the Phoenix Symphony, said they wanted to be “an advocacy group, a group to talk about the orchestra’s experience – verb – as a Negro and how to be a Negro and to be a black person.” support that in all the places where it’s going, not just the professional ranks.”

Alexander Laing, co-founder of the Black Orchestra Network

Jared Platt


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Jared Platt


Alexander Laing, co-founder of the Black Orchestra Network

Jared Platt

One of the first things they do is send a call to actionn an open letter titled, “Dear American Orchestras.” The website lists 60 Black Orchestra musicians from around the country who have signed. “We draw inspiration from what we have seen from the world of theater and the world of dance,” says Laing. “We wanted to clearly present a point of view and articulate our experience and then also articulate a vision for the future.”

Simon Woods, president and chief executive officer of League of American Orchestraa lobbying group and organization that commissioned the 2014 study, saying that orchestras in the United States “traditionally have been a fairly white space.”

The federation considered fairness, diversity and inclusion in its ranks. “There is a deep urgency in our field for change,” Wood said. He added that the Federation is currently working to update their previous research.

However, change comes with challenges. For one, the “blind” audition process, which avoids bias by having musicians play behind screens, is an integral part of creating gender equality in the orchestra, but does not lead to to the rise of Black musicians. Black Orchestral Network’s Arnold says that’s because who gets hired depends on who’s invited to audition.

“Many orchestras are not transparent about the fact that they don’t have completely blind auditions,” she said. In other words, a lot of the auditioners were able to pass the screen.

Shea Scruggs, an administrator at the Curtis Institute of Music who previously played the oboe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, said there were Black musicians on hand.

Shea Scruggs is polite


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Shea Scruggs is polite

Another barrier to change is the tenure system, which means job opportunities are often few and far between. Shea Scruggs, an administrator at the Curtis Institute of Music who previously played the oboe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, said there is no shortage of black musicians qualified for orchestra jobs, although many do. given that the lack of representation is a problem with the pipeline

“To say we need music programs for teenagers, or it’s happening at the conservatory level; basically, to present challenges around diversity in a way that helps young people,” he said. Orchestra is not part of the problem,” he said.

Because there To be a pipeline. The Sphinx Foundation, based in Detroit, supports young Black and Latinx musicians, the Gateways Music Festival in Rochester features musicians of color from around the country, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recently opened appointed Jonathon Heyward, a 29-year-old black conductor, to the position of music director in the fall of 2023.

It’s an excellent step forward, but the organization needs to better reflect its community: “Not only the orchestra itself, but the staff, too,” said Mark Hanson, president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. ” our board of directors, our sponsors, our partners and ultimately our audience. “

Meanwhile, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is addressing its lack of diversity by creating a Resident Fellowship program for two new Black musicians this fall. Gail Samuel, president and chief executive officer of BSO, said she believes diverse voices are essential to the survival of the orchestra: “We need to be committed to ourselves and our institutions. to change the systems, structures, and policies that have so far excluded Black musicians.”

Black Orchestral Network co-founder Laing said he hopes the questions they ask will lead to a real shift in thinking. “Who is this space for?” Laing asked. “Who’s it designed to be comfortable for? And whose presence upsets that? So these are the conversations we want to have.”



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