“According to the League of American Orchestras, classical music has a serious lack of diversity,” writes Kamal Kimball in Tuesday’s (2/27) Soapbox Cincinnati (Ohio). “Racial and ethnic minority players make up [nearly] 15% of orchestra musicians. In 2015, UC College-Conservatory of Music and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra established the joint Diversity Fellowship program to help level the playing field…. First-year student Ian Saunders, a double bassist from Norfolk, Virginia, spoke … about his experience with the program … Q: How has your journey been different than other players? A: Typically in any orchestral career you have to play summer festivals in Aspen and Tanglewood…. I came from a family where I couldn’t afford not to work in the summers. Q: What are some of the best things about the fellowship experience so far? A: … They provide audition support so we can just focus on practicing. Q: What do you hope the future holds after the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship wraps up? A: The dream in general is to join a major orchestra…. I feel like I’m now in a good place to compete for those.” Click here to read interviews with musicians in the CCM/Cincinnati Symphony Diversity Fellowship program in the Fall 2017 Symphony magazine.
Posted February 27, 2018
Ian Saunders photo by Stephen Easley
