Are African American conductors even on the radar screen when major symphony orchestras are recruiting for music directors?
Notwithstanding covetous claims by some black American musicians that jazz is, at root, an African American art form, that genre is, nevertheless, populated by many Caucasian instrumentalists, composers, arrangers, conductors, and fans. Indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that jazz is received with greater enthusiasm by audiences in European capitals than is the case in the United States, its country of origin. On the other hand, performance of classical music in major symphony orchestras generally remains off-limits to African American musicians and, especially, to black conductors. The world of classical music currently is facing unaccustomed public scrutiny after members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra openly rebelled as the symphony’s board went through the process of appointing a woman, Marin Alsop, as its 12th music director. But scant mention, if any, has been made of the racial homogeneity of symphony orchestras nationwide. The Baltimore musicians’ behavior, however princip
