IN UNISON Chorus performing at St. Louis' Powell Hall.
Photo courtesy of St. Louis Symphony.
Jesse Rosen, President & CEO, League of American Orchestras
October 22, 2014
On Monday night, demonstrators protested the Metropolitan Opera for
performing John Adams' "The Death of Klinghoffer." Three weeks ago a
very different kind of demonstration was held in Powell Symphony Hall.
Just before the start of a performance by the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus of the Brahms German Requiem, demonstrators
unfurled banners reading "Requiem for Michael Brown" and "Racism Lives
Here" above a drawing of the iconic Saint Louis Arch. Next the
protesters sang several choruses of "Which Side Are You On," a 1930s
protest song dating back to the bitter miners' strike in Harlan County,
KY. It was all over in three minutes. The demonstrators departed
peacefully, on their own volition, chanting "Black Lives Matter," and
the scheduled performance proceeded.
What happened in those three minutes
and what does it mean that it occurred in Powell Symphony Hall? Anyone
who watched the video or heard the radio broadcast can see for
themselves the confusion, fear, support, and anger the demonstrators
inspired in the audience and on the stage. A full range of views and
feelings is on display. The explosive and divisive issue of race with
all its messiness, emotion, and frustration, had entered the concert
hall. Whether orchestras are seeking a place in the country's
continuing conversation about race, or that conversation descends on
them, race is an inescapable fact of life for orchestras as it is in the
rest of America. Orchestras have a long way to go to achieve racial
diversity in the board room, onstage, and in the audience. But they are
not standing still.
The Brahms Requiem is one of the most
sublime expressions of loss, healing, and redemption. The demonstration
organizers report that they carefully chose the occasion of its
performance as the time and place to engage -- a testament to this
canonic work's relevance and enduring capacity to take on new meaning as
the context around it changes. Admittedly, the St. Louis Symphony did
not choose this new context; it chose them. But the choice of time and
place was an affirmation that the St. Louis Symphony and the Brahms
Requiem matter, especially, as this simmering city confronts the most
urgent issues triggered by the Michael Brown shooting.
This was
not the St. Louis Symphony's first connection to Ferguson. Last month
the orchestra participated in a concert in a Ferguson church in support
of the community. The concert, billed as "Heal Ferguson," was organized
by Brian Owens, St. Louis Symphony staff member and a Ferguson
resident.
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