“The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Dvořák 8 was outstanding, but my mind was preoccupied,” writes Cedric McCoy in Tuesday’s (1/10) Michigan Daily, the student newspaper of the University of Michigan. McCoy, a Black musicologist and student at the university who is “deeply passionate about orchestral conducting,” writes about a DSO concert at which he and a friend experienced microaggressions from a white audience member. “I couldn’t figure out why that conversation had happened … I had ultimately been made to defend my right to be there with the legacy of an institution that hasn’t exactly been friendly to anti-racist causes…. What would make classical music more accessible to Black composers, musicians, and audience members? Is it more representation? More DEI programs commissioning Black artists? What about celebrations of Black culture and music, performed exclusively by white musicians? Unapologetic, but often even whitewashed Blackness has not been and is not welcome in classical music spaces…. Black musicians may never find a home in ‘authentic’ classical music; that remains to be seen. But we can still build community and bring music to it. By contributing to efforts that increase access to music and decolonizing our institutions, the musicians of today can ensure that there will be space for those who come after us.”
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