Facing The Music: Is The Classical World Ready To Show That Black Voices Matter?

The outrage at the killing of George Floyd has led many musical institutions to join the chorus of companies, brands and public figures posting #BlackLivesMatter in recent weeks, and even declaring today, Juneteenth, to be an official company holiday. But do these arts organizations actually understand what it means to lift up black voices, in practice?

A tweet from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City drew fire from many who excoriated the Met for its record on racial equality:

Responses to the Met’s tweet included, “It would be wise to fix your own home before speaking out empty words like these” and “Remember when you hired an all-Black chorus for Porgy but didn’t put them on your regular chorus roster? They were good enough for Porgy but not good enough for…anything else??”

Amid the Met’s financial deficits and struggles to retain audience numbers, one would think that the incredible financial success of last season’s production of Porgy and Bess (which this second response refers to)—a show with with an all-Black cast which brought in 113% of its anticipated box office revenue, and even added nearly-unprecedented extra shows to its sold-out run—would be a clear demonstration to Met leadership of the tangible value of diversity. And not for the first time either: Porgy’s debut at the Met in 1985 sold out as well.

“There is place for everything [the Met] said there is no place for. It’s still here, very much here,” says Charles Williams, who played Sportin’ Life in the original production of Porgy. He recalled that in ‘85, “there were a lot of unhappy people, supporters and performers. ‘Does [Porgy and Bess] belong at the Met?’ ‘Is it really an opera?’ It turned out to be the first opera in the Met’s history when they had to print tickets a year in advance because people wanted to see it. An all-Black cast, an all-Black chorus … [but] some called us ‘the negropolitan opera.’”

Terrence Chin-Loy, a chorus member in last year’s production of Porgy, described how the racism that Williams had experienced at the Met in the late ‘80s had not diminished, but had merely grown subtler by 2019. The feeling was evident while simply walking through the opera hall.

“If you were a Black person, people assumed that you were part of Porgy and Bess … it gives the impression of, ‘Oh, Black people are only here when we’re doing Porgy and Bess,’” says Chin-Loy, who was even more shocked that the only Black person on the head staff was Camille Brown, the choreographer. “It seemed like a lost opportunity to me; if there were Black conductors and Black composers all over, it would be a different conversation.”

Chin-Loy shared a memory that stuck with him: “We were the opening night of the whole season. [We] expected Yannick [Sézet-Néguin], the head conductor, to come around to our rooms to say, ‘Have a great show, we are so excited that you’re here’—it’s so important to hear that from leadership. He was there, but we didn’t get that. … If you’re trying to make a place feel welcoming to people who in the past have not been there and not had a real space in a very white space, you would try to go out of your way to make sure they felt valued in that space.”

The Met, responding to these remarks, disagreed that this absence should be interpreted as a signal of apathy, noting that Sézet-Néguin had “congratulated the entire cast and company at the end of the run, and told them that he was so enthusiastic about the production, he would be conducting the show’s revival with the same company in a future season.”

How about adding them to the regular chorus roster, as has been urged?

Last week, the Met did share a set of action steps it will be taking to address “systemic and structural inequities across all areas of our company.” These actions include hiring a Chief Diversity Officer, holding listening sessions to hear stories like those that Williams and Chin-Loy had to share, organizing anti-racism training for senior management and launching a paid internship program. Hopefully these steps will be the start of genuine transformation for the Met and the broader field.

The Met is not the only major arts institution under fire for its legacy, particularly in the realm of classical, choral and orchestral music. Catherine Dehoney, Director of Chorus America, an organization dedicated to advancing the choral world, shared that on race, “the field is not anywhere near where it needs to be.” Not only do many institutions uphold outdated structures and practices that marginalize people of color, but so do their funding sources. “The foundations supporting the ‘anchor’ institutions in a given city basically refuse to change their practices to be flexible with organizations by and for people of color,” says Dehoney. “I’m sad to see it.”

Chin-Loy offered a challenge to the field: “As an arts organization, your mission, at least part of it, is to speak to the human condition—to humanity…all of humanity.”

Thankfully, organizations like Chorus America have been working to push the field on these issues for years. Having attended Chorus America conferences in the past, I have been impressed with their integrity around diversity, equity, and inclusion. “And Chorus America keeps working on itself,” Dehoney added, “working on the composition of our board. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, but it’s not enough.” In light of recent events, Dehoney shared that sessions in this week’s Chorus America conference that in previous years “might have been more gentle in addressing equity and inclusion practices” are now simply speaking “truth to power.” Meanwhile, initiatives like the Black Voices Matter pledge—launched today—call on choral leaders to commit to anti-racist practices.

Williams, for one, is encouraged by the changes he has seen across the country in the last few weeks.

“If enough of us of all different stripes” band together, he says, people in the classical world and beyond “are given permission to face [systemic racism] and look at it, and it makes them better.”