Wednesday, July 26, 2017

John Malveaux: Diversity and Inclusion: NATIONAL TAKE A STAND FESTIVAL at Disney Concert Hall featuring the NATIONAL TAKE A STAND FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Marcus Gee

Thomas Wilkins & Gustavo Dudamel


John Malveaux of 
writes:


Based on a past League of American Orchestras survey, nearly 90% of orchestra players are White, 3% percent are African-American or Latino, and most of the remaining 7% are Asian. On July 22, 2017, I attended the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association closing event of the NATIONAL TAKE A STAND FESTIVAL at Disney Concert featuring the NATIONAL TAKE A STAND FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA.
The concert and El Sistema concept represent the most powerful vehicle for diversity and inclusion in American Orchestras that I have ever witnessed to date.. Please see NATIONAL TAKE A STAND FESTIVAL http://www.laphil.com/education/yola/national-take-stand-festival-2017/.
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra principal Conductor Thomas Wilkins opened the concert with Coleridge-Taylor “Danse Negre”, Berlioz “Hungarian March from the Damnation of Faust” and Elgar “Nimrod” from Enigma Variations. LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel closed with Tchaikovsky “Slavonic March”, and Bernstein “Mambo”, from West Side Story. I sat next to a gentleman who is producing a documentary about Maestro Dudamel. Before the concert, I asked if he knew anything about the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. He quickly said NO. I shared two brief comments and hoped he would read the paragraph in the program about the Afro-European composer.
In 2013, i missed the screening of a Samuel Coleridge-Taylor documentary followed by a discussion with the producer Charlie Kaufman. However, I was successful in contacting Mr. Kaufman and he agreed to meet with me on his way to the airport.  Mr. Kaufman had invested all his assets in the documentary without a distribution deal. He graciously shared a copy of the documentary with me. Please see one of several trailers to his documentary SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR and His Music in America, 1900-1912 on Youtube. I selected the following trailer because the first person speaking is Francis Walker, sister of the Pulitzer Prize composer George Walker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU3uOodTEh8. The entire documentary is also on Youtube.
As the high school musicians between the ages of 12-18 walked on staged, I starting counting the number of African Americans players. I was momentarily distracted and they were coming so frequently, I lost count and could not recover to get an accurate count. Sitting in the front row, I gave close attention to the skillful techniques and confidence by the principal cellist Marcus Gee. See pic 1 Marcus Gee.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s first date with his future wife Coretta was a concert of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. After witnessing their lives and the NATIONAL TAKE A STAND ORCHESTRA, I know for sure YES WE CAN. see pic 2 Maestros Wilkins and Dudamel

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