KQED.org: Classical Music Has a Diversity Problem. What Does the Solution Look Like?

Jonathan Bingham

(Credit: Matthew Washburn)

Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser

(San Francisco Symphony)

KQED

By Iris Kwok

Feb 11

Jonathan Bingham had just finished his work shift at an Apple Store in May 2021 when he saw the voicemail. He had been offered a commission as part of the Emerging Black Composers Project. Shocked, he went into the store’s changing area and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Bingham had worked at the Apple Store since his days as a graduate student at New York University. After graduating in 2016, he juggled a full-time position there with a burgeoning composing career that included residencies at the Arapahoe Philharmonic and Boulder Symphony.

From 7am to 4pm, Bingham helped people fix their iPhones. From 5pm to around 10pm, he composed. And then he would do it all over again.

Being a finalist for the Emerging Black Composers Project, or EBCP, has provided Bingham with an opportunity to start a new chapter in his life as a full-time composer. Upon receiving the news, he put in his two week’s notice and moved from New Jersey to San Francisco.

Bingham had applied to the EBCP without giving much thought as to whether or not he could win. He was simply hoping his work would pass before the eyes—and ears—of the renowned composers and conductors on the judging panel.

The project, a 10-year partnership between the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco Symphony, aims to spotlight existing talent and nurture the next generation of Black composers in the U.S. While the EBCP doesn’t have the word “competition” in its name, it functions as one. The project has sparked a conversation about how much further classical music has to go to become truly equitable, and whether competitions are an effective tool to promote diversity.

Facing classical music’s whiteness

“Historically, composers of color have had a much harder time getting their music performed and workshopped,” says Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, chair of the EBCP selection committee and the San Francisco Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement and education. “[The] project is an attempt to address some of that, and to provide points of access to young people from a community that has often previously been denied access.”

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony launched the EBCP in the aftermath of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, which helped set off a racial reckoning within arts organizations nationwide. Major orchestras finally began to grapple with an ongoing problem: their failure to truly reflect their surrounding communities, both in concert programs and on stages.

“There’s an assumption that a composer is someone who is of European descent and usually a male,” says Trevor Weston, who received the first-place EBCP commission in 2021. “Visibility is important so that people understand that this tradition has always included people of different backgrounds.”

Weston received a $15,000 commission to compose a new work for the San Francisco Symphony, a rare opportunity for a contemporary composer. Due to the applicant pool’s strength, the selection committee named three additional finalists—Bingham, Shawn Okpebholo and Sumi Tonooka. Each received an $8,000 commission to compose a work for the National Brass Ensemble, Oakland Symphony and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, respectively. The competition is accepting applications for its next cohort through Feb. 14.