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The Grammys and The Challenge of Equitable Diversity

The Grammys and The Challenge of Equitable Diversity

Chart-topping artists like Lil Nas X walked away empty handed, but people like Jazmine Sullivan and Doja Cat reaffirmed their footing with fans, and the Recording Academy, by taking home the highly coveted trophy in their respective categories. Even the biggest award, the Grammy for “Album of the Year”, went to Jon Batiste, who himself seemed to be surprised when his name was called, making him the 11th Black artist to win this award in Grammy history.

With these, and several other Black artists taking home awards, it would seem that the Recording Academy is paying close attention to the continued push for more Black representation in the way these awards are distributed, but a closer look shows there is still a high level of marginalization toward Black artists that many people ignore in light of the success of a select few.

All Black Gateways Orchestra To Perform To Capacity Audience at Carnegie Hall Debut

All Black Gateways Orchestra To Perform To Capacity Audience at Carnegie Hall Debut

With just under one month to go until their groundbreaking Carnegie Hall season feature on Sunday April 24, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, composed entirely of Black musicians, will perform for a capacity audience as tickets for the concert are nearly sold out.

The 7 day Gateways Music Festival, which runs from April 18 to 24, consists of two full orchestra concerts, six chamber music performances, two piano recitals, two film screenings, two lectures, a panel discussion, a Young Musicians Institute, and an “after hours” jam session.

CONVERSATIONS: Brendan Slocumb on Opportunity, Building Habits, and "The Violin Conspiracy"

CONVERSATIONS: Brendan Slocumb on Opportunity, Building Habits, and "The Violin Conspiracy"

RC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Brendan Slocumb in the latest installment of “Conversations” on finding opportunity, building habits for practice and discipline, and “The Violin Conspiracy”.

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

Brendan Slocumb is violinist, music educator, conductor, and author.

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

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.

Author Brendan Slocumb on the Inspiration Behind His Successful Debut Novel "The Violin Conspiracy"

Author Brendan Slocumb on the Inspiration Behind His Successful Debut Novel "The Violin Conspiracy"

Brendan Slocumb’s first novel, The Violin Conspiracy released this month by Anchor Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is charting on Amazon, has quickly gained national media buzz, and become a Good Morning America Book Club selection in only a matter of days. Its surprising success has caught its author pleasantly off guard.

Represent Classical spoke with the author and musician this week about the book and his personal inspiration behind the story.

NEW RELEASE: James Sanders & Conjunto "Evidencia"

NEW RELEASE: James Sanders & Conjunto "Evidencia"

James Sanders and his Latin jazz ensemble Conjunto, will celebrate the release of their new album, Evidencia on Friday at 8:30 p.m. with a performance at Constellation in Chicago.

Sanders is a violinist with the Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra, where he’s been a member since 1993. Though he didn’t study jazz during his college career or prior (he is a graduate of Yale), his dual musical citizenship, was mirrored in his bilingual upbringing.

EVENTS: Midwest Premiere of "The Chevalier"-Music of The Baroque ft. Brendan Elliott

EVENTS: Midwest Premiere of "The Chevalier"-Music of The Baroque ft. Brendan Elliott

Music of the Baroque will perform the Midwest debut of the concert theater work “The Chevalier”, written by Bill Barclay and featuring violinist Brendan Elliott, February 18 to 20 in Chicago.

NEW RELEASE: Catalyst Quartet ft. Michelle Cann "UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price"

NEW RELEASE: Catalyst Quartet ft. Michelle Cann "UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price"

Catalyst Quartet today releases UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price on Azica Records. The 2-CD length digital album is the second in a series of a multi-volume anthology highlighting the GRAMMY award-winning string quartet’s works by important Black composers.

Volume 2 is entirely devoted to the six known string quartet and piano quintet works of composer Florence B. Price – including four world premiere recordings – performed with pianist Michelle Cann, recipient of the 2021 Price Award.

“Cool Story”: Jonathan Bingham's Plan to Record and Publish Unheard Howard Composers

“Cool Story”: Jonathan Bingham's Plan to Record and Publish Unheard Howard Composers

As a student at Howard University in 2010, composer Jonathan Bingham attended a small chamber music concert by “The President’s Own” United States Marine String Quartet with about 40 other audience members. On the program was the 1st movement of a string quartet by the late composer Mark Fax (1911-1974). A private recording of the concert was made by Howard and shared with Bingham and other composition students and faculty.

Sphinx Org Announces 2022 Venture Fund Recipients

Sphinx Org Announces 2022 Venture Fund Recipients

The Sphinx Organization has awarded two grants of $100,000 and one grant of $97,500 for 3 projects that meet the Sphinx Venture Fund’s mission to support initiatives designed to solve a challenge or an issue related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in classical music.

american orchestras, awards, chamber music, competitions, composers, commissions, conservatories, funding, music, music administration, music education, music schools, opera, opportunities, orchestras, social justice, strings, support for BBIPOC music, young artistsChristine EscobarNovember 12, 2021music competitions, competitions, composers of color, Sphinx Venture Fund, Sphinx, sphinx organization, BBIPOC musicians, BBIPOC classical musicians, BBIPOC composers, Art of the Piano Festival & Foundation, Awadagin Pratt, Nina Simone Piano Competition, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Manhattan School of Music, Alexa Smith, New York City Opera’s Duncan-Williams Voice Competition, The Juilliard School, Weston Sprott, Composing Inclusion, New York Philharmonic, American Composers Forum

New $2 million Mellon Foundation Grant to Fund DEI Practices in 20 American Orchestras

New $2 million Mellon Foundation Grant to Fund DEI Practices in 20 American Orchestras

A new gift of $2.1 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the League of American Orchestras’ next phase of their Catalyst Fund: an incubator program to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion practices in American orchestras. The new grant follows the receipt in 2019 of $2.1 million from the Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year pilot program that provided grants to 49 orchestras.

EVENTS: Ear Taxi Festival Celebrates Chicago’s New Music Scen

EVENTS: Ear Taxi Festival Celebrates Chicago’s New Music Scen

Ear Taxi Festival, one of the largest urban celebrations of new and experimental music, runs September 15 to October 4 in venues across Chicago.

Presented by New Music Chicago, the festival is now in it’s 5th year and celebrates new, contemporary classical, experimental, creative, electronic, and other types of music and “sound-practice” composed by, improvised by, and performed in Chicago by Chicagoans.

"The Hill We Climb": John Clayton’s Music with Amanda Gorman’s Words, Premiered by Amit Peled, Mount Vernon Virtuosi

"The Hill We Climb": John Clayton’s Music with Amanda Gorman’s Words, Premiered by Amit Peled, Mount Vernon Virtuosi

Amit Peled and the Mount Vernon Virtuosi (MVV) today release a new performance film set to the world premiere of composer John Clayton’s The Hill We Climb. The piece is inspired by and set to the poem of the same name by American poet and activist Amanda Gorman, recited at the presidential inauguration in January 2021.

NEW RELEASE: Jennifer Koh "Alone Together"

NEW RELEASE: Jennifer Koh "Alone Together"

Violinist Jennifer Koh’s new album, “Alone Together”, to be released digitally by Cedille Records on August 27, is based on her online performance series of the same name, originally broadcasted live on Instagram from her home.

The series was created in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the financial hardship it placed on musicians in the arts community.

NEW RELEASE: Tyshawn Sorey ft. Alarm Will Sound-“For George Lewis”

NEW RELEASE: Tyshawn Sorey ft. Alarm Will Sound-“For George Lewis”

Composer Tyshawn Sorey’s double-album, featuring the chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, releases on Cantaloupe Music on August 27.

Recently profiled in the New York Times Magazine, Sorey has been called a denizen of the “in-between zone” by the New Yorker. The two works on the album, commissioned by Alarm Will Sound, tap into a central theme that Sorey calls “the decorating of time.”

EVENTS: Violinist Creates New Music Fest to Showcase BBIPOC artists

EVENTS: Violinist Creates New Music Fest to Showcase BBIPOC artists

This August, a new music festival is coming to New York City highlighting musicians who are Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color in genres ranging from classical to jazz to musical theatre.

The Omnipresent Music Festival will showcase the talents of BBIPOC composers and musicians through concerts, lectures, and seminars. The free 5 day series runs from August 9 to 14 at the Morris Jumel Mansion (Manhattan’s oldest surviving residence). No tickets are required.

NEW RELEASE: Apollo Chamber Players "With Malice Toward None"

NEW RELEASE: Apollo Chamber Players "With Malice Toward None"

Apollo Chamber Players releases their fifth studio album “With Malice Toward None, August 20 on Azica Records.

The album is “a collection of globally-inspired compositions and collaborations, with each composer sharing their own personal interpretations of folk music.”

PriceFest 2021 Celebrates Life and Legacy of Composer Florence Price

PriceFest 2021 Celebrates Life and Legacy of Composer Florence Price

The International Florence Price Festival will be holding its 2nd annual festival "PriceFest 2021: A New Black Renaissance” online from August 20-August 23rd, 2021, sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Music.

composers, music, music history, orchestras, strings, support for BBIPOC music, virtual concertsChristine EscobarJuly 2, 2021florence price, International Florence Price Festival, Marquita Lister, Melissa Givens, Kevin Wayne Bumpers, Kamilla Arku, PriceFest 2021

New UK Based “Black Lives in Music” to Use Data, Advocacy to Advance Equity

New UK Based “Black Lives in Music” to Use Data, Advocacy to Advance Equity

The UK-based organization Black Lives in Music (BLiM) is using data and advocacy to amplify and empower Black musicians and music creators, in response to the widespread calls for equity for Black musicians.

composers, conservatories, forums, funding, music, music education, music history, music schools, musicology, opera, opportunities, orchestras, social justice, strings, support for BBIPOC music, video, internationalDalanie HarrisJune 1, 2021Black musicians, Black classical music, Black jazz musicians, Black pop musicians, Black folk musicians, Black composers, Black music history, Black opera, diversity, equity, inclusion, UK, United Kingdom, Black Lives in Music, Charisse Beaumont, Orphy Robinson, Shabaka Hutchings, Paulette Long, Spotify, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Help Musicians UK, Arts Council England, Trinity Laban, Leeds Conservatoire, PRS Foundation, The Ivors Academy, Musicians’ Union, Featured Artists’ Coalition, Manchester Jazz Festival, Jazz North, Marsden Jazz Festival, Lichfield Jazz Festival, The Black Music Coalition, London Mozart Players, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Black choral music, Zeze Millz

“From Our Home to Yours”: Concert Series to Showcase Young Filipino American Artists

“From Our Home to Yours”: Concert Series to Showcase Young Filipino American Artists

The FilAm Music Foundation announces its upcoming virtual concert series beginning May 29 to showcase its roster of young musicians. The concerts will be broadcast free and streamed on the FilAm Music Foundation’s Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube feeds. Donations are encouraged to help support scholarship and performance opportunities for up and coming Filipino American classical musicians.