On Accusations of Racism in the Classical Music Industry

Ever since the anonymous Instagram account @orchestraisracist garnered widespread attention several months ago for publicly outing supposed racists in the classical music industry, musicians have been lambasted and, in several instances, banished from the industry on the basis of hearsay. Classical pianist Yuja Wang, for example, was accused via Instagram of referring to an audience member as “big mama” during a private conversation in a cab after a performance.¹ She told NPR, “I have no recollection of this conversation, but language and actions that are judgmental or discriminatory against anyone are unacceptable.”² Had she not apologized, she faced being “canceled.”

This is but one of dozens of accusations flung from the safety of the anonymous Instagram account. Another involved a black student claiming that faculty members did not know or pretended to not know his/her name because they were “racist.”³ Yet another student claimed that the head of strings at a prestigious conservatory told the orchestra to “play like slaves of a ship, all rowing at the same time . . . not the chicken-wing-eating slaves, the others.”⁴ There are posts about a conductor who allegedly asked a flutist “to really play up the Chinese influence of the second movement flute solo. He then proceeded to sing the whole solo on the syllables ‘Ching Chong.’”⁵

These are just a few of the many stories that readers are expected to believe with little to no evidence. Some posts, however, do provide leads worth investigating, such as a video of a former opera director who, according to the anonymous source, “completely shut down someone questioning the representation of racial tropes in [her] productions.”⁶ The questioning ensued after she cast the only black vocalist in her production as a butler.⁷ She was then “exposed” by an online petition and subsequently fired.⁸ Other posts contain screenshots of texting conversations in which musicians made racist remarks in jest to friends.⁹ Of course, such things can be fabricated, exaggerated, and taken out of context.

What if the legal system worked this way, allowing anyone with a personal vendetta against you or who took offense from an offhand remark to send an anonymous e-mail and have you prosecuted? Obviously, this would be absurd and unjust. Posting on social media may be an effective means of shaming individuals or institutions in any industry, but it is unjust to post insufficiently supported allegations that may ruin someone’s career.

The account holder(s) of @orchestraisracist claim that they are doing this to improve the industry and make it more racially diverse, but what rational person of any race would want to step into a field rife with such vigilantism? If we want to eliminate racism in the classical music industry, we have to be rational when evaluating musicians and any claims about them.

In truth, though, these tactics are not aimed at improving the industry but at infusing it with collectivism—the idea that what’s important about any given individual is not his character or ability, but his race, gender, sexual orientation, or similar unchosen characteristics. Consider the demands of the @orchestraisracist account holder: “Educational institutions have a moral, ethical and scholarly duty to change their curriculum to include more about composers and musicians of color, women and the LGBTQ+.”¹⁰ Others are hopping on the bandwagon. Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist and only black musician of the New York Philharmonic, suggested that orchestras should “Commit 15 percent of [their] subscription series repertoire to Black and Latinx composers, for the next decade.”¹¹ Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges believes that “similar to sexual harassment workshops, companies should mandate racism and diversity training.”¹²

And institutions are beginning to march to this tune. Philip Ewell, a teacher at Hunter College, published an article that, according to Alex Ross,

begins with the sentence “Music theory is white,” and goes on to argue that the whiteness of the discipline is manifest not only in the lack of diversity in its membership but also in a deep-seated ideology of white supremacy, one that insidiously affects how music is analyzed and taught.¹³

According to Joshua Barone, Peter Gelb, manager of the Metropolitan Opera, “said in an interview that the Met would also revamp its traditionally unpaid internship program, introducing payment and a campaign to actively recruit a diverse pool of applicants.”¹⁴ The New York Times reports that “Major orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony put works by Black composers on their first online programs.”¹⁵

Sure, there are irrational, racist individuals in the classical music industry, just as there are in virtually any field. But we have means for dealing with them. If and when someone is genuinely racist, people can and do document evidence and present it to an authority or a human resources department. Audition panels can also implement screens so that evaluators cannot see players and so cannot judge them by their appearances, as many have already done.

This, however, is not enough to satisfy some. They don’t want a color-blind focus on achievement and ability, but a system that treats race as the single most important characteristic. After all, if people were clamoring for racial quotas and earmarked funds favoring white people, we would all see that for what it is: racism. Today’s race-based initiatives are simply the other side of the same racist coin. To judge an individual—positively or negatively—not on the basis of character and ability, but on the basis of race or other such unchosen characteristics, is collectivism; and it is completely irrational.

We can’t combat collectivism by answering it with collectivism. If we want a color-blind and merit-based industry, then merit is the only thing we should consider. Such an industry would enable musicians to thrive and foster a culture in which they can create and perform the best quality music.

About F. F. Mormanni

F. F. Mormanni is a Juilliard-trained flutist and harpist now working in finance. She is the author of Double Crossed, a medical techno-thriller. Learn more at ffmormanni.com.

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