The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: How can classical music be made less white? Nine Black artists suggest changes. Which ones will work best?
3 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
With all the attention given to and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement — and other demonstrations and protests against personal and systemic racism as well as white privilege — it comes as no surprise that questions are being raised about the overwhelmingly white world of classical music and how to change it.
Most of the local classical music groups The Ear knows of have posted statements of solidarity.
If he recalls correctly, they include the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), the Middleton Community Orchestra, the Willy Street Chamber Players and many others.
But beyond declarations of solidarity with people of color, the music groups face deeper issues that require action, not just words, and remain more difficult to solve: How to attract more Black classical musicians? How to foster more Black composers? And how to attract more Black audiences?
Diversity and equity are long-term issues, and quite a number of possible solutions loom.
Would performing more pieces, both historical and contemporary, by Black composers (below) work?
Would hiring more Black resident musicians help?
Would booking more Black guest artists and soloists help? (Below is the young and upcoming British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.)
Would changing the music curriculum in schools help? (Some important Black composers are explored in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Would generating more support to and from the Black community help?
Last week The New York Times did a fine piece of work in addressing these issues.
The reporter and music editor asked nine different accomplished Black conductors, instrumentalists, singers, critics and administrators in classical music about how to solve the inequity. The interviews were condensed and edited into very readable statements.
Here is a link to that story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/black-classical-music-opera.html
Please read it.
Then let us know which suggestions you think should be attempted first and which solutions are most likely to work.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #BlackComposer, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackMozart, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChevalierdeSaint-Georges, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryComposers, #CulturalDiversity, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #GreatBritain, #GuestArtist, #HistoricalFigure, #JacobStockinger, #Kanneh-Mason, #LivingComposers, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkTimes, #PeopleofColor, #residentmusicians, #ScottJoplin, #ShekuKanneh-Mason, #SocialChange, #SystemicRacism, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheUK, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WhitePrivilege, #WilliamGrantStill, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WyntonMarsalis, #YoungArtist, #YouTubevideo, action, address, administrator, Arts, attention, attract, audience, black, Black Lives Matter, Black Mozart, blog, Book, Britain, British, brown, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, change, Chevalier de Saint Georges, choral music, Classical music, classical musician, classicalmusic, community, composer, concerto, conductor, contemporary, critic, deeper, demonstration, different, difficult, diversity, edit, editor, ensemble, equity, explore, Facebook, Florence Price, forward, foster, generate, group, guest artist, historical, important, inequity, instrumentalist, interview, issue, Jacob Stockinger, link, living composers, local, long-term, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, Middleton Community Orchestra, movement, Mozart, Music, Music education, New York City, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, overwhelming, people of color, performer, personal, philosophy, Piano, piece, post, posting, privilege, protest, question, racism, raise, readable, resident, resident musicians, Scott Joplin, share, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, singer, social change, solidarity, soloist, solve, statement, story, strings, suggestions, support, surprise, symphony, systemic, systemic racism, tag, The Ear, The New York Times, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, urgency, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, vocal music, white, white privilege, William Grant Still, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, world, Wynton Marsalis, young, young artist, YouTube
Classical music: Musical America offers an exhaustive and helpful guide to international FREE streaming of operas, concerts and recitals, complete with program notes and links for listening
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
During the COVID-19 pandemic, so much music is being streamed – through both live streaming and delayed pre-recorded streaming – that it can be hard to keep track of it all.
After all, the events are taking place locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
How do you know what operas, orchestral concerts, chamber music concerts and individual recitals will take place? Where and when they will take place? What time is it in your time zone? And where do you find links to the performances, such as those by the famed Berlin Philharmonic (below)?
Getting so much information can be daunting.
But one loyal reader has helped The Ear by sending word about the most exhaustive compilation or online guide to FREE streaming of classical music events he has seen so far.
It is done by Musical America, and The Ear highly recommends it.
The Musical America website advises users that the guide will be updated twice weekly, and that Central European Time (CET) is six hours ahead of Eastern Daylight time (EDT) — or seven hours ahead of Central Daylight Time (CDT).
It also tells you how long many of the streamed videos are available for. A full 23 or 24 hours after the initial airing seems pretty average. But many appealing events – by some of the most prestigious organizations and individual performers in the world — will be available for the entire duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
You also get concise notes about the performers and the programs.
Today and tonight, for example, you could take in productions by the Berlin State Opera, the Zurich Opera and Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera (below) and the Vienna State Opera.
You could also take in the historical performances from the ongoing Cliburn Watch Party from the Cliburn International Piano Competition, and the twice weekly concerts by the six musically talented children in the acclaimed Kanneh-Mason family in England, now dubbed “The Von Trapp’s of classical music.” (Below is cellist brother Sheku Kanneh-Mason performing at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.)
And you could listen to award-winning cellist Alisa Weilerstein (below) will also discuss and play all 36 movements of the six solo cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach that she recently recorded and just released.
The guide lists some of the more outstanding paid websites such as Medici TV but also lists events that took place much earlier but are still available for free watching and listening.
The guide has a link so that organizations can submit their own events for listing or users can make suggestions.
In short, the Musical America guide is extremely useful. You should probably bookmark it if you are planning to listen to a lot of musical events online through streaming.
But don’t take The Ear’s word for it. Take a look and check it out for yourself.
Here is a link: https://www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?storyid=44766&categoryid=1&archived=0
What do you think of it?
Do you find it useful and think you will?
Do you see any major shortcomings or overlooked events?
Recommendations of your own?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BerlinStateOpera, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloMusic, #CelloSuite, #CentralDaylightTime, #CentralEuropeanTime, #ChamberMusic, #CliburnWatchParty, #COVID-19, #EasternDaylightTime, #EnglishMusicians, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GreatBritain, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #Kanneh-Mason, #LiveStreaming, #MediciTV, #MeghanMarkle, #MetropolitanOpera, #MusicalAmerica, #NewsProgram, #OrchestralMusic, #PandemicPlaylist, #PrinceHarry, #ProgramNotes, #RoyalWedding, #ShekuKanneh-Mason, #SoloCelloSuites, #TakePlace, #TheEar, #TheMet, #TheU.K., #TimeZone, #VanCliburn, #VanCliburnInternationalPianoCompetition, #ViennaStateOpera, #VonTrapp, #YouTubevideo, #ZurichBallet, #ZurichOpera, #ZurichSwitzerland, air, airing, appealing, audience, average, award, award-winning, Bach, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin State Opera, blog, bookmark, brother, CDT, cellist, Cello, Central Daylight Time, Central European Time, CET, Chamber music, check, Cliburn Watch Party, compilation, Concert, concise, coronavirus, daunting, discuss, duration, Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, England, ensembles, entire, Europe, event, exhaustive, extreme, Facebook, Family, forward, free, Great Britain, groups, guide, individual, individuals, information, inital, initial, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, like, link, listing, livestream, local, look, loyal, medici.tv, Meghan Markle, Metropolitan Opera, movement, Music, Musical America, national, notes, online, opera, orchestral music, organizations, overlooked, pandemic, pandemic playlist, participant, party, paylist, performance, Pianist, Piano, play, post, posting, pre-recorded, prestigious, Prince Harry, program, program notes, reader, recital, recommendation, regional, royal, royalty, share, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, shortcoming, solo, Solo Cello Suites, stream, subscriber, suggestion, Suite, Switzerland, tag, take place, The Ear, the Met, time, time zone, tonight, TV, U.K., update, useful, user, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, video, Vienna, Vienna State Opera, von Trapp, watch, wedding, week, when, where, winning, word, world, YouTube, Zurich, Zurich Opera
Recent Comments
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ann Boyer on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 