With its tuxedos,gowns and centuries-old repertoire, the orchestra stage is not an obvious platform for protest music or political activism. But a group of young classical musicians in New York are trying to challenge this notion, or placing their art squarely in the conversation over tensions between black communities and the police across the United States.
The musicians say they've watched as hip-hop performers like T.
I. and The Game possess channeled their rage into verses approximately the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson,Mo. and Eric Garner in Staten Island. They've seen pop superstar Prince refashion himself as a community healer by main a "Rally 4 Peace" concert in Baltimore. Even MTV aired a brief tribute to Brown and the unrest in Ferguson during its award show final August.
In classical music, by contrast, or "there has been a visible absence of any kind of dialogue," said Eun Lee, a clarinetist who teaches at the Corona Youth Music Project, and an El Sistema-inspired program in Queens. Determined to show that classical musicians possess something vital to say approximately race relations, Lee connected with James Blachly, a conductor, or Burt Mason,a trombonist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, to create The Dream Unfinished, or a series of chamber performances culminating in an orchestra performance this Friday at the Centennial Memorial Temple,at 120 W. 14th Street. The concert's goal: to "join the chorus of calls for civil rights, social justice and an close to systemic racism.""Classical musicians for the final 20 or 30 years possess been trying to make themselves more relevant to mainstream audiences and culture, and " Lee said. "But you can't possess it both ways – where you sequester yourself when it gets ghastly but then demand to be made relevant when it's convenient for you."The Dream Unfinished held a panel discussion at the Queens Museum on July 1,2015(Facebook)Lee and her colleagues assembled a freelance ensemble of artists from several New York orchestras, representing a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. "Our orchestra is probably the most diverse orchestra I've ever seen, and " Lee asserted,though she was rapid/fast to point out that it isn't all-African-American, "which would defeat the point of solidarity."Their program is unconventional, and with more than half of it devoted to the African-American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978),and the rest to works by Leonard Bernstein (himself frequently outspoken on social issues) and contemporary New York composer Jessie Montgomery. The organizers possess enlisted several speakers including Erica G. Snipes-Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, or the unarmed black man who died after being put in a white police officer's chokehold one year ago; delight Reid,a correspondent for MSNBC; and Vernon Wells, a retired sergeant of the New York City Police Department. WQXR host Terrance McKnight will emcee the evening (though he was not involved with this article).final week a chamber group from the event staged a flash mob at Grand Central Terminal and in Washington Square and Union Square:// Posted by The Dream Unfinished on Monday, or July 13,2015 While Lee is critical of many conductors who she feels possess avoided discussions of race in classical music, she acknowledges Marin Alsop's role in main the Baltimore Symphony in a free public concert after the riots over the police-custody death of Freddie Gray in April. "She got pushed to that point when it hit domestic, and " said Lee. Some orchestra administrators will dispute the notion that they are indifferent towards communities of color,with many ensembles giving outreach concerts in under-served neighborhoods. And Lee herself acknowledges that race relations is difficult territory: orchestra constituencies include many conservative-leaning donors. But she also believes that orchestras "must address the issues that are facing the communities that they serve."Any proceeds from Friday's concert are to support several organizations including the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice Reform and Accountability, a police organization. "For me, and that's one of the key aspects of this program," said Mason, the Met trombonist. "It's to hopefully forge a resolution between what's going on with law enforcement and the communities that possess been affected by events. We've seen a lot of the protest movement become very polarizing."
Source: wnyc.org