“A conductor has started a youth orchestra on Chicago’s South Side to serve many young musicians of color who had to commute long distances to take part in music programs downtown or in the city’s northern suburbs,” write Karen Jordan and Lauro Lopez on Friday (9/20) at Chicago’s ABC7 TV station. “Charles Dickerson formed the South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra in July…. The youth orchestra rehearses weekly and they held their first performance in August. Ten years ago, Dickerson started the Inner City Youth of Orchestra in Los Angeles after realizing young musicians of color had no orchestras in their community…. ‘In order to play, they had to go far and wide,’ Dickerson said. The South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra has been rehearsing at Chicago State University…. Cellist Sajdah Muhammad said she has to travel long distances to the Loop or to Evanston to play in orchestras. ‘But this one is pretty close to home,’ Muhammad said…. The goal of the South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra is to eventually fill more chairs in orchestras across the country with musicians and conductors of color. ‘Less than 5% of the orchestra industry has employees who are African American or Latino,’ Dickerson said.”
Posted September 23, 2019
In photo: The South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra at Chicago’s South Shore Cultural Center, July 2019
