Sound Off: Music for Bail Opens Its 2023-2024 Season at People's Forum

The program features music by notable Black, Brown, and Asian historical and living composers performed by violinists Aurora Mendez and Celina Farmer, violist Jay Julio, and cellist Angelique Montes. Featured speaker Tatiana Hill will offer a history of her work with the NYC Office of the Community Liaison in the wake of Judge Shira Scheindlin’s 2013 ruling that “stop-and-frisk” policies are unconstitutional, and the path forward ten years later. General admission tickets are $15. Proceeds from these concerts directly support musicians and speakers. Free tickets are available at request to remove financial barriers to attendance.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Black Orchestral Network responds to KC Symphony’s Tenure Denial

On Tuesday May 9th exactly one year after the Black Orchestral Network (BON)’s “Day of Solidarity” addressing anti-Blackness in US orchestras, the organization released a statement on social media protesting the Kansas City Symphony’s recent denial of tenure to acclaimed Principal Percussionist Josh Jones. Represent Classical’s Jay Julio interviews BON co-founder and Steering Committee member Jennifer Arnold about this latest development.

Symphony of Secrets: Brendan Slocumb's Newest Novel Challenges Classical Music History

The fearless approach that Slocumb continues to take in his follow-up book Symphony of Secrets envisions histories of Black composers and performers of diverse experiences pushing against oppressive systems, fighting for their lives and their art, and indeed winning. It offers hope as historical contributions by musicians of color continue to be excavated, and diverse modern-day masters continue to get increased recognition.

Sound Off, Planetary Music Project, PROTESTRA & VOCAL-NY Collab For Concert of Chamber and Orchestral Works at Robert Moss Theater

In collaboration with Groupmuse’s Planetary Music Movement and PROTESTRA, Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a hybrid program of chamber and orchestral music by leading contemporary and historical Black American composers alongside "Yet Unheard" a cantata dedicated to the life and memory of Sandra Bland by Rome Prize-winning composer Dr. Courtney Bryan at Playwrights Horizons Downtown.

Strike at The New School Ends: Tentative Agreement Reached

The action was the longest strike by adjunct college faculty in U.S. history and part of an increasing trend in worker uprisings at U.S. colleges and universities this year.

According to a post on the union's strike update website "You Are The New School", the agreement represents what part-time faculty are calling "significant achievements" for the teachers who make up about 87% of the school's faculty.

NatPhil Messiah Concert to Benefit Maryland's Historic "Scotland Church"

National Philharmonic (NatPhil) will present three performances of George Frideric Handel’s "Messiah" at 8 p.m. on December 17 and 3 p.m. on December 18 at The Music Center at Strathmore, as well as at 7:30 p.m. on December 23 at Capital One Hall. Conducted by Stan Engebretson, the program will feature a cast of African American singers alongside the National Philharmonic Chorale.

EVENTS: Women in Classical Music Symposium

The 3-day event is sponsored by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and is now in its fourth year. The symposium's organizers say despite the fact that more women graduate from prominent conservatories and schools of music than their male counterparts, they are "severely underrepresented in titled conducting positions, in programming by major orchestras, on stage as soloists, and in management leadership positions."

As Artists Continue to Draw the Line, Real Time DEI Will Change Classical Music

he positive, residual impact of this dialogue-based approach toward change can’t be denied; however, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to address today’s missteps and examples of inequity in performance spaces by and with words alone. It begs the question: What should the next stage of change-making in the arts look like, considering the relative normalization of the talk-centric aspects of this work?

activism, arts activism, classical music, global, international, music, music administration, operaGarrett McQueenAugust 8, 2022

Quinteto Latino's Seminario Returns for 2022

Quinteto Latino's mission is to disrupt racial and economic disparities within the classical music field by championing past, present, and future contributions by Latino composers and musicians. The organization promotes classical music by Latino and Latin American composers through performances, commissions, mentoring, and child and adult education.

This week on TRILLOQUY: Opus 157

Inspired by the viscerally provocative poem, "Here, Bullet" by Brian Turner, the art song of the same name by composer Kurt Erickson is, among many things, a plea for western classical arts spaces to directly address gun violence.

When Gun Violence Erupts Again, Will The Concert Hall Be Spared? Not Unless We Act Now

While this story may seem inappropriate, exaggerated, and even far-fetched for many classical concert goers, the reality of gun violence is becoming more widespread and normalized across American society. As of mid-July, 2022, over 300 mass shootings had been reported in the United States, with associated deaths stacking up to over 60. Orchestral and opera venues have long been considered “safe spaces” where issues of systemic racism, patriarchal norms, and class division (among others) have been pushed to the proverbial nosebleeds, but as the issue of gun violence continues to grow, so should the attention that arts institutions are paying this issue.

This Juneteenth, Consider The Evolution and Future of Liberated Black Culture

With the ever-growing awareness and celebration of Juneteenth, let it shine as an example of what’s possible through our collective diversity. Let Juneteenth, and the evolutions of music and culture that it has inspired, be something we all celebrate.

BMOP, Odyssey Opera to Perform and Record Davis’ “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X”

The opera, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis, debuted in 1986. This new performance will be staged just a short distance from the house in the Roxbury neighborhood where Malcolm X (1925-1965), born Malcolm Little, lived during his formative adolescence.

Season 2 Episode 1 of CONVERSATIONS Out Now: Nnenna Ogwo on A Musician's Responsibility

Each episode of Represent Classical's “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.

Featured in this episode: Nnenna Ogwo – pianist and Founder and Artistic Director of JuneteenthLP

Opera Programming: When is Representation At Odds With Cultural Sensitivity?

Do you remember the first time you went to go see a live production of an opera? Maybe it was during a school field trip, or for a date that you wanted to impress. I’ve met people whose first experience in an opera house was born out of a pure curiosity that led to the purchase of a ticket.

Everyone has a different story about their introduction to this art form, but what isn’t engaged as much is the residual emotional impact of said introduction. For me, the introduction came by way of performing on the stage, but I wasn’t able to measure the emotional impact opera had on me until I engaged opera as an audience member.

Black Orchestral Network Calls On American Orchestras to Enact Systems Level Change

Founded by Jennifer Arnold, Alexander Laing, David A. Norville, Joy Payton-Stevens, Shea Scruggs, Weston Sprott, and Titus Underwood, the Black Orchestral Network describes itself as “a community of Black orchestral artists” who “love and care about the American orchestral community.” However, with that love comes concern. BON sees the relative lack of Black talent in professional orchestras as a huge problem and has entered the arts activism field with not only a mission, but with a call to action.

In BON’s formal call to action, the organization offers some of the context that inspired their very direct approach, namely, a 2014 statistic that highlights the fact that less than 2% of American orchestral musicians are Black.

CONVERSATIONS Season 1 Now Available on Spotify

Represent Classical’s popular video series, CONVERSATIONS, is now available to listen to on Spotify.

Hosted by Christine S. Escobar, Founder and Editor of Represent Classical, each episode of “CONVERSATIONS” features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators in classical music and related genres.

Stay tuned for Season 2 beginning in late spring with more insightful and thought-provoking discussions on the change that musicians of color are creating in the music industry.

Resisting the Eurocentric Paradigm: Activist Classical Music Groups Effect Change

The Dream Unfinished is one of numerous grassroots, activist orchestras that have emerged in recent years across the country. Their existence is a form of resistance against mainstream classical institutions that have been slow to change and diversify.

The concert, organized by arts administrator and clarinetist, Eun Lee, was a direct response to the killing of Eric Garner at the hands of New York police. Held at Centennial Memorial Temple in New York, the performance featured music by activist composer Leonard Bernstein and William Grant Still, considered the “dean” of African American composers, and speeches by activists including Garner’s daughter, Erica. Proceeds from ticket sales went to the Center for Constitutional Rights, Justice League NYC, and the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice.

SMU Data Arts Industry Report on Employment Reveals Deep Disparity Between White and BIPOC Workers

According to a newly published report by SMU Data Arts, unemployment in the arts doubled that of the national average in the U.S., with BIPOC individuals and those with disabilities bearing the brunt of the impact.

Although employment returned for some workers of the arts sector, this recovery appears to have been virtually nonexistent for BIPOC and disabled workers.

Suzuki Association of the Americas Looks to the Future: Q and A with Exec. Dir. Angelica Cortez

Everyone that I’ve talked to has some relationship in the music world to Suzuki. Their teacher was trained in it or their parents were involved in it. Everyone is like one person removed at most from Suzuki. To me, it was such a huge opportunity to connect with the organization, and to really build on its history. The Suzuki model and the Suzuki philosophy is founded on this idea that music can be a tool for developing youth, instead of music being just kind of this gift that we give to people. We're using music as a tool for young people to understand themselves, to understand how they want to contribute to society, to understand how to connect with each other, to connect with their families.