Tag Archive for: BIPOC

Harpist Ashley Jackson, DEI Takes A Hit and Two Shows You Don’t Want To Miss.

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To steal a phrase from a big budget movie franchise: 

There is a disturbance in the force.

Many if not all of DEI programs have been cut by the federal government.

Harpist Ashley Jackson has a new album that will soothe your soul.

The Equity Arc Wind Symphony and Words and Music of Black America are two shows you need to see and hear. 

A couple of competitions are waiting for your application.

The Thomas Zajac Memorial Scholarship

Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition

Loving v. Virginia.  An Opera Out of History And On to the Stage

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A new opera is about to premiere in Virginia called Loving v. Virginia.  It tells the true story of an interracial couple who had to go to the Supreme Court to legalize their marriage.  Two well-known opera singers were asked to compose and direct. Bass Baritone Damien Geter composed the music and Mezzo Soprano Denyce Graves is directing. 

Also on this March 2025 edition of Classical Music In Color.  The heartbreaking story of a music camp for BIPOC high school musicians that was shut down by the federal government. 

Here are the links to the competitions mentioned in the show.

The Audition Intensive from Sphinx

Video Biennial Open Call

Early Music America Engagement Awards

LIFT EVERY VOICE FOR JULIA PERRY

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February 2025 brings us Black History Month and the 125th anniversary of the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice And Sing. There are many arrangements of this uplifting song including two acapella versions featured in this month’s podcast. There’s also celebrations at Lift Every Voice and Sing Park in Florida.

Composer Julia Perry (1924 – 1979) has finally found a copyright holder and a distributor of her music. After a long legal tussle, a non-profit called Vidamus has the copyright and Boosey and Hawks will distribute it.

Watch with joy as Karen Slack and Michelle Cann accept their Grammy. 

Julia Perry’s Catalog of Music Is Finally Available  

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African-American composer Julia Perry died in 1979 without a will, after an illustrious career in classical music that started in the 1950’s. Then she and her works fell into obscurity. Nearly 50 decades later, Perry’s music is back in part because it is finally legally available for musicians to perform.

That’s thanks to Dr. Louise Toppin, the Director of Vidamus, a group promoting concert works by under-presented composers. Vidamus has joined with Boosey and Hawkes, to distribute Perry’s music.  Now they’re looking for more of her “lost” compositions. 

IT’S NICE TO BE BACK.  On Classical Music In Color

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I was pretty happy to see the last of 2024. 

So many reasons but I think after some time, I am happy to be back producing more episodes of Classical Music In Color in 2025.

In this episode I tell you about music organizations like Arts2Work and the League Of American Orchestras offering help for those affected by the Los Angeles Wildfires. Shoppe Black also has a list of African-American businesses that are helping too.

I also cover BIPOC classical musicians who are up for Grammy Awards. 

Application season is here for young musicians looking for a summer music program.  Equity Arc is offering a streamlined application.

There’s a job open at the Berkeley Symphony with Joseph Young stepping down. 

There’s Almost No Music In This Classical Music Program

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You would think that a “special” classical music program would be all about the music. You’d be wrong if you’re talking about one particular program for high school aged female classical musicians.  The Fortissima program at Colburn School in Los Angeles is aiming for something completely different.

Artistic Director and Violinist Jannina Norpoth says they aim to teach their charges how to make it in the world they want to pursue. One student, Tess Reed, says this was the best experience ever.

String Quartet Smackdown

Crossing Borders Music seeks a violinist

Isata Kanneh-Mason Releases “Mendelssohn”

The Opera about Fannie Lou Hamer

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Photo by www.ireneyoungfoto.com

After reading numerous articles about our shorter than short attention spans, I’ve decided to split this, the August 2024 Classical Music in Color into two parts. It may be a permanent fixture. Let me know what you think.

The first part is an interview with 85 year old composer Mary D. Watkins who’s about to premiere her latest opera “Is This America” about the Mississippi Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. 

Mary D. Watkins is a Colorado native who earned a degree in classical composition from Howard University in Washington, DC.  She started getting noticed later in life.  She won a Female Composer grant from Opera America in 2020, has previously won composer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, along with various other grants.  AND She received a 2021 Artist Legacy Award from the California Arts Council.  She was also recognized with a 2022 Composers Now Visionary Award. She says her composition of this opera was a long time coming.

The Second part of this, the August 2024 edition of Classical Music In Color is what I’m calling for now, the Albums, Opportunities, Events and Milestone section of the show.

Here are the links:

Sphinx – SOPA

Black Violin Foundation Grants

Castle Of Our Skins Give Black

Kellen Gray

Lara Downes

Click Here

Good News About Three Black Classical Artists

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It’s been a busy and awarding season for some young emerging Black American classical musicians.  Pianist Clayton Stephenson and Violinist Njioma Chinyere Grievous were the recipients of The Avery Fisher Career Grant Award.  Another, Tyler Taylor, won the Emerging Black Composers competition from the San Francisco Symphony, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

We also honor an early music musician, James Nicholson, whose career spanned more than 25 years.

The National Association of Negro Musicians Convention

Njioma Grevious – Photo credit Jiyang Chen

Anthony McGill

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The First Black Principal Clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic.

Something special happens when two African American classical musicians come together to perform a work about the Black experience in America.  Anthony McGill, the first Black Principal Clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, has been on a tour of sorts with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Anthony Davis. McGill performs Davis’s reality-based work, You Have The Right To Remain Silent.  

In this edition of Classical Music In Color, hear the story of how McGill made his ascent to the top of the classical music world.  And how he’s helping others get there too. 

Events and Opportunities

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davison PBS Great Performances “Broadway’s Best” lineup in May.

Grammy winning, Bass singer Morris Robinson’s one man show at the Fort Worth Opera

Early Music America’s Engagement Award

Cover Photo by: Martin Romero

Althea Waites.  Pianist, Scholar, Advocate

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Althea Waites is a pianist extraordinaire. In her 85 years, she has performed all over the world and will occasionally accept invitations to teach master classes at music schools across the country.  She has produced several albums, including her 2023 grammy nominated  album, Reflections in Time.  Her main goal is to perform new music and the music of composers of color.  She has recorded the works of Margaret Bonds, Jeremy Siskind and Curt Cacioppo along with three of the “Three-Fours” of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.  Waites is scheduled to perform this month at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Events and Opportunities:

THE APOLLO – CELEBRATING 90 YEARS AS THE SOUL OF AMERICAN CULTURE

Clayton Stephenson @ New York Philharmonic

The California African American Museum in Los Angeles

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Bloomberg Philanthropies.  Digital Accelerator Program