New Report Says U.S. Orchestras Are Programming More Works by Composers of Color and Women

The new “2022 Orchestra Repertoire Report” says that over the last several years there’s been an increase in how often American orchestras perform works by composers of color, women composers, and living composers. The report also examined programming trends dating back from 2015 to the current season.

The study was produced by SUNY Fredonia’s Institute for Composer Diversity, in partnership with the League of American Orchestras, with support from the Sphinx Organization’s Venture Fund. Data for the study was gathered from season announcements and the websites of medium and larger budget orchestras.

The Dessoff Choirs to Perform NY Premiere of Margaret Bonds Cantatas

The Dessoff Choirs celebrates the late African American composer Margaret Bonds, at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, in New York City, on April 28 at 7:30 p.m., a pre-concert talk begins at 6:45 p.m.

Born in Chicago, Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) was a pianist, a composer, an arranger, and a music teacher. She was one of the first Black composers and performers to gain popular recognition in the U.S., being the first Black soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She was also a strong fighter for civil rights, and is remembered for her arrangements of African American spirituals.

The Dessoff Choirs concert features the New York premieres of the orchestral versions of two neglected Bonds cantatas: Credo inspired by a W.E.B. Du Bois essay, and Simon Bore the Cross (edition by Malcolm J. Merriweather), a collaboration with Langston Hughes.

Opinion: “Another Opera for White People”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, as engaged by arts institutions across the country, have centered performers, but what about audience members? With a few exceptions (including the diverse audience turnout for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones”), opera audiences remain predominantly white.

The creation of a fictional, white character in “Emmett Till” for the sake of affirming the feelings of these predominantly white audiences is not only a perpetuation of a status quo that countless arts administrators, advocates, and activists work to dismantle, but a celebration of it.