Everett Lee with Reverend J. C. Olden, Civil Rights leader and father of Lee’s first wife, Sylvia Olden Lee
Courtesy of The Courier-Journal
and courier-journal.com
Everett Lee conducting
the Louisville Orchestra in 1953
as published in Jet, 1 October 1953
AfriClassical has posted information on Everett A. Lee in 2011 and 2013, thanks to information provided by his son Everett Lee III and Byron Hanson,
Archivist at Interlochen Center for the Arts, in Michigan, as well as
Bob Shingleton of the blog On An Overgrown Path.
Please see research/article by Carol J. Oja, Harvard University
H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music
Carol J. Oja writes in the Notes:
This article is drawn from my forthcoming book, Bernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art in a Time of War (Oxford University Press, to be published in 2014).
American Music Review
Volume XLIII, Number 1, Fall 2013
Everett Lee and the Racial Politics of Orchestral Conducting
[Excerpt]
While researching a book about the Broadway musical On the Town, I
quickly realized that the show’s initial production in 1944 was
remarkable for its progressive deployment of a mixed-race cast.1 On the Town
marked the Broadway debut of Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph
Green, and Jerome Robbins. Its star was the Japanese American dancer
Sono Osato, and its cast included six African Americans out of a total
of fifty-four. Today, those numbers would appear as tokenism. Within the
context of World War II, however, with a contentiously segregated
military, detainment of Japanese Americans as “alien enemies,” and
racial stereotypes of the minstrel show fully in practice, On the Town
aimed to challenge the status quo. Black and white males in military
uniforms stood side-by-side on stage, modeling a desegregated military,
and black men held hands with white women in scenes of inter-racial
dancing. The show’s intentional desegregation made a statement.
An equally important racial landmark occurred nine months into the run of On the Town,
when during the week of 9 September 1945 Everett Lee, an African
American conductor, ascended to the podium of the show’s otherwise
all-white pit orchestra. Previously, Lee had been the orchestra’s
concertmaster. In an era of Jim Crow segregation in performance, Lee’s
appointment was downright remarkable, and it has been followed by an
equally exceptional career. His first wife Sylvia Olden Lee (ca.
1918-2004) emerged professionally at the same time as her husband, and
their development as musicians was deeply intertwined. She ultimately
became a celebrated accompanist and vocal coach, working with African
American divas such as Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle.
Comment by email:
Please see http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/07/from-carmen-jones-to-arvo-part-and.html [John Malveaux]
Everett Lee and the Racial Politics of Orchestral Conducting
[Excerpt]
While researching a book about the Broadway musical On the Town, I
quickly realized that the show’s initial production in 1944 was
remarkable for its progressive deployment of a mixed-race cast.1 On the Town
marked the Broadway debut of Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph
Green, and Jerome Robbins. Its star was the Japanese American dancer
Sono Osato, and its cast included six African Americans out of a total
of fifty-four. Today, those numbers would appear as tokenism. Within the
context of World War II, however, with a contentiously segregated
military, detainment of Japanese Americans as “alien enemies,” and
racial stereotypes of the minstrel show fully in practice, On the Town
aimed to challenge the status quo. Black and white males in military
uniforms stood side-by-side on stage, modeling a desegregated military,
and black men held hands with white women in scenes of inter-racial
dancing. The show’s intentional desegregation made a statement.
An equally important racial landmark occurred nine months into the run of On the Town,
when during the week of 9 September 1945 Everett Lee, an African
American conductor, ascended to the podium of the show’s otherwise
all-white pit orchestra. Previously, Lee had been the orchestra’s
concertmaster. In an era of Jim Crow segregation in performance, Lee’s
appointment was downright remarkable, and it has been followed by an
equally exceptional career. His first wife Sylvia Olden Lee (ca.
1918-2004) emerged professionally at the same time as her husband, and
their development as musicians was deeply intertwined. She ultimately
became a celebrated accompanist and vocal coach, working with African
American divas such as Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle.Comment by email:
Please see http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/07/from-carmen-jones-to-arvo-part-and.html [John Malveaux]
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