Indiana’s South Bend Symphony Orchestra and St. Joseph Public Library are partnering to host a three-week book club symposium addressing the lack of diversity in orchestral repertoire using Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music by Joseph Horowitz. The book discussion will begin on March 16, from 7 to 8 p.m., at the St. Joseph Public Library’s main branch. Led by Marvin V. Curtis, chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and dean and music professor emeritus at Indiana University South Bend, participants will discuss the book and its implications. Tenor George Shirley will participate in the March 16 discussion. Additional discussions will take place on March 23 and 30 at 7 p.m. To register and for more information, visit the South Bend Symphony’s website or Facebook page. The events will be streamed and in person (facial masks required). The symposium follows the South Bend Symphony’s 2021 adoption of an equity, diversity, and inclusion statement that acknowledges America’s legacy of systemic racism and how that legacy has permeated American orchestras.
