Diversifying the Symphony

In addition to being a Hispanic of Mexican descent, I happen to live and work in San Antonio, a city that is 60% Hispanic. Mexican culture is a major part of the city’s identity and I would be surprised if any American orchestra has spent more resources and made greater effort in reaching out to this segment of the community than the San Antonio Symphony. While there have been some successes, I would say in general that the results have been disappointing. I’ll write more on this later in the week.

I have tremendous admiration for Aaron Dworkin and the Sphinx Organization. I read his essay with great interest and, while I agree with the spirit of his thesis, I disagree with many of his proposed remedies. Obviously I come to this discussion from a background and experience that is probably very different from Mr. Dworkin’s and I’m sure this may partially explain our divergent views.

In my six years as a professional classical musician, it has never crossed my mind that, as a Hispanic, I might be discriminated against. On the contrary, I find that American orchestras represent one of the most welcoming, open-minded workplaces imaginable. I think you would be hard pressed to name another workplace where people are more readily accepted regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation. Also, American orchestras are already, in a sense, one of the most diverse workforces around. Looking down the roster of the San Antonio Symphony, I see musicians from Turkey, Syria, China, Japan, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark and Brazil (not to mention our Korean resident conductor). I believe there are slightly more women than men in our orchestra and, except for the basses, we have at least one woman in every section (including the brass!).

Unlike some of our European counterparts, I believe American orchestras, since the advent of the screened audition, have been extremely fair in their hiring practices. While there have been several documented examples of European orchestras favoring white male musicians over females or Asians, this would be unimaginable in a modern American orchestra. This is why I find Mr. Dworkin’s idea of introducing affirmative action into the audition process disturbing. He seems to be asking a system that has been remarkably successful and fair to allow handicapping for under-represented ethnic groups. Though I believe Mr. Dworkin’s heart is in the right place, I think this idea would be rejected by many of the several African-American and Latino musicians who, especially in recent years, have made their way into the symphonic workforce. I believe that affirmative action is wholly justified in cases where there has been a historical prejudice against a certain ethnic group or gender, such as college admissions. I don’t believe this has been the case in American orchestras for many years. Furthermore, I am gratified to know that my colleagues accept and respect me on the basis of my playing and my ability to work with them to produce the best performance possible. If I believed that my race had anything to do with why I was hired, I would always wonder how my colleagues really felt about me and if they held any resentment towards my appointment.

I’d like to re frame Mr. Dworkin’s thesis. It is indisputably true that orchestras don’t reflect the ethnic make-up of the American population. But I’d like to go a step further. Do conservatories reflect the “ideal” ratio? I don’t have the data to back me up, but from my own experience I would venture to say that America’s conservatories and music schools reflect roughly the same ethnic and gender ratios as most symphony orchestras (about 50/50 male to female, mostly white, some Asian, a few blacks and Hispanics). If this is true, than the first step shouldn’t be lowering the bar for blacks and Hispanics at orchestra auditions; it should be encouraging talented young minority musicians to consider a career in music in the first place.

I believe that the root of this question revolves around cultural stereotypes in minority communities. I was raised in a mostly white community and while my parents speak Spanish, the only language spoken at home was English. When I developed an interest in classical music, it never occurred to me that there was something unusual about a Hispanic kid obsessed with the music of Gustav Mahler. It was only when I got together with my extended family that I realized that I was a little different. Because they were more connected to their Mexican heritage than I was, I think they viewed my interest in classical music with suspicion. To them, it might have seemed like I was “acting white.”

I think the reason why you see relatively few blacks and Hispanics in the classical music field is the same reason why there are relatively few Latino rock bands and African-American country singers. There are strong cultural stereotypes that, in many cases, discourage talented minority students from pursuing an interest in classical music. These stereotypes may have been planted by the classical music industry but they are also nurtured by distrustful minority groups. I look forward to writing more in the coming week about how I think this issue can be addressed in conservatory recruitment, audience development and orchestra outreach.