Panel Discusses Lack of Black Musicians in Classical Music

By Sherrie Negrea, June 22, 2020

IC saxophone professor Steven Banks served as moderator.

Assistant professor of saxophone Steven Banks (top left) spoke on and moderated a panel of Black classical musicians.

As the murder of George Floyd has prompted a reexamination of racism throughout society, a group of Black musicians, composers and educators is calling for change in one of the nation’s least racially diverse institutions: the American orchestra.

Steven Banks, an assistant professor of saxophone at Ithaca College, helped organize a panel discussion on the experience of Black musicians in the classical music world on June 10. The online panel, recorded on Facebook, has attracted more than 81,000 views since it was posted.

“The society that we live in has to become less systemically racist in order for the entirety of our country to take steps forward,” said Banks, a classical saxophonist who performs around the country. “Even though we may feel classical music is removed from this, I definitely think that there’s a lot of overlap.”

Steven Banks was one of three moderators.

Banks, who became the first saxophonist to win First Prize in the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions last year, organized the panel discussion with two other winners of the award — Randall Goosby, a violinist, and Anthony Trionfo, a flutist.

Black musicians represented 1.8 percent of the nation’s orchestra players in 2014, a figure that had not grown over the previous 12 years, according to the most recent study by the League of American Orchestras. Hispanic musicians represented 2.5 percent of orchestra players and Asian/Pacific Islander musicians were 9 percent.

The New York Philharmonic has had three Black musicians in its history, and two of them were represented on the online panel. The orchestra’s first Black musician, Sanford Allen, who played violin with the Philharmonic from 1962 to 1977, said he felt discouraged because the number of Black musicians in the orchestra has not increased.

“I had only heard of one or two Black composers once I was almost ready to graduate from Northwestern with my master’s degree. The fact of the matter is that there have been so many Black composers throughout history, even going back to times that predate Mozart.”

Steven Banks, assistant professor of saxophone

“One of the things that makes me disgruntled now is we seem to be rehashing the same issues,” Allen said. Yet what has changed, he added, is the ability for Black classical musicians to band together to discuss the issue. “We didn’t have the ability to do that partly because we had no contact with each other,” he said.

Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist and the only Black musician currently in the New York Philharmonic, said that because orchestral musicians are typically not outspoken about political issues such as racism, progress is never achieved.

“The environment that you’re in in an orchestra is very much one where you do not want to stick out,” McGill said. “So for a young Black musician, it’s especially hard because that’s exactly what you’re doing — you’re hiding in plain sight. You don’t want to speak up and say anything because people will think you’re being very radical.”

The lack of diversity is also reflected in the type of music that orchestras perform. Banks, who has played with The Cleveland Orchestra, said the problem stems from the fact that music written by Black composers is often not studied in music conservatories, which means that it will not likely be played professionally.

“In these white spaces, where I’m typically the only Black person in the room, I see that as an opportunity as an ambassador. There may be some tokenism in there, but I’ll take that, because I feel that if I can inspire another composer or a person of color to go into music or change someone’s view of a Black person, that to me means the world.”

Carlos Simon, composer

“I had only heard of one or two Black composers once I was almost ready to graduate from Northwestern with my master’s degree,” Banks said. “The fact of the matter is that there have been so many Black composers throughout history, even going back to times that predate Mozart.”

One way to tackle the issue is for Black composers to appear with orchestras or chamber groups when their music is being performed so they become more visible to audiences, said Carlos Simon, a composer who teaches at Georgetown University.

“In these white spaces, where I’m typically the only Black person in the room, I see that as an opportunity as an ambassador,” he said. “There may be some tokenism in there, but I’ll take that, because I feel that if I can inspire another composer or a person of color to go into music or change someone’s view of a Black person, that to me means the world. It’s amazing to be able to have that particular change through music.”

Watch the Panel

View the entire panel, "Learning to Listen: A Roundtable discussion addressing the nuances of the Black experience in classical music and beyond."

Learning to Listen: A Roundtable discussion addressing the nuances of the Black…