Mansfield Philharmonic Artistic Director and Conductor Eldred Marshall rehearses the Texas-based orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. Photo by James Hartley/KERA News.
In Monday’s (12/2) KERA News (North Texas), James Hartley writes, “When Thao Pham got together with a couple of friends and suggested creating a classical music ensemble seven years ago, she [and co-founder Fletcher Rudd] didn’t imagine it would become the local institution the Mansfield Philharmonic is today.… Now it’s a diverse group of musicians from countless backgrounds and professions—none of them members of a professional orchestra. There are plenty of professional musicians in the group, namely music teachers, who are joined by students and musicians with careers in engineering, marketing, research and medicine…. The concerts are free … Dallas Magazine declared the Mansfield Philharmonic ‘one of the most diverse orchestras in America’ … In 2019, NPR reported less than 2% of American orchestral musicians and 4.3% of conductors were Black. More recent data from the League of American Orchestras found that number has grown [slightly] in the years since … It’s become a bit of a cliche to say that diverse representation in an industry can show young people that they can do it, too, but Pham says it’s still important … Seeing Black, Asian and Latino musicians on stage during a Mansfield Philharmonic performance really can demonstrate to young, aspiring classical musicians that it is possible to make it in this industry.”
