In his “Music in Music” blog, composer Daniel Perttu interviews conductors, composers, and others in the orchestra field. In his November 7 post, Perttu speaks with League of American Orchestras President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “Q: What is inspiring to you about the future of orchestras? Rosen: There are many things. The variety, volume, and quality of new compositions nowadays is at an all-time high. I ran the American Composers’ Orchestra for ten years, and when I started there, in the 1980s, there were two camps: the ‘uptown composers’ and the ‘downtown composers.’ You had to declare which side you were on. Since that time, not only has that wall crumbled… we’ve had such an explosion of genres. Part of it is from immigrant composers, from Asia and parts of Europe, as well as our home- grown composers with the influences from various idioms throughout America. Just a great, great wealth and variety of music today…. Orchestras are moving beyond a surface kind of approach to dealing with equity, diversity, and inclusion … toward more holistic, organization-wide conversations and strategies, including at the core artistic level…. In the last five years, I’ve seen this shift to a deeper, more authentic engagement with these ideals of equity, diversity and inclusion.”
Posted November 8, 2019
