Lizzo plays President James Madison’s crystal flute at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in September 2022. Photo: Library of Congress.
In Friday’s (6/23) Classic FM (U.K.), Sophia Alexandra Hall writes, “International pop star and flautist Lizzo has gifted $50,000 to a U.S. organization devoted to increasing the representation of Black and Latinx artists in classical music. The Sphinx Organization, founded in 1997 by Aaron Dworkin, works with over 118 American orchestras to revolutionize access to auditions, and to evolve audition, tenure, and promotion practices across the industry. Lizzo’s made the donation as part of her fourth annual Juneteenth giveback, where she ‘gives back’ to black organizations formed at the grassroots. ‘Thank you to Sphinx for all you do to transform young black musicians lives through the arts,’ Lizzo added in a tweet. The announcement of Lizzo’s donation follows the recent release of the League of American Orchestra’s 2023 report about racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in orchestras…. Afa S. Dworkin, President and Artistic Director of Sphinx, told Classic FM … ‘If we do not purposefully include, then we are excluding.’ … According to the new report, which measured progress over the last decade, people of color now make up about 21 percent of orchestral players nationwide, up from 14 percent in 2014…. Black [musician] representation in U.S. orchestras has increased—but only by 0.6 percent …Said Dworkin, ‘There has been a change in repertoire representation, which is great. The time to lead in every other way is now upon us.’ ”
