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November 18, 2021
Redefining the Canon
Redefining the Canon, a field-wide effort from nonprofit Boulanger Initiative, aims to diversify the most widely-used orchestral audition excerpts by offering technically-comparable excerpts by historically underrepresented composers.
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November 3, 2021
Voices of Hope
Last spring, as coronavirus positivity rates dipped in the U.S. and COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, orchestras’ fall season announcements included a hopeful sign: programs featuring orchestra and chorus. The sound of massed voices and orchestra has been sorely missed for more than a year, but with worries about the health risks of singing and uncertainty over Delta and other new variants, presenting Beethoven’s Ninth or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony can be a tricky balancing act.
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November 3, 2021
Return to Pops
Pops artists, like the orchestras they perform with, took a hit last season. Now they are beginning to return to orchestra stages across the country and hitting a note of realistic optimism. Ten pops artists reveal how they have fared, what they have missed, what they most look forward to, and what they have planned for the season ahead.
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November 3, 2021
Musicians in the Spotlight
Musicians have been taking new roles at orchestras during the pandemic, commissioning and performing new music, stepping up as soloists, and curating and filming performances, often outdoors—even in an airplane hangar.
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November 3, 2021
Aiming for a More Inclusive Canon
In an excerpt from his new book, Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Classical Music, Joseph Horowitz examines why classical music in America “stayed white” and failed to become more inclusive.
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November 3, 2021
Conference 2021: Embracing a Changed World
The League of American Orchestras’ 2021 National Conference featured new ideas, new voices, new formats, new music, and drew thousands of orchestra professionals—all online.
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March 16, 2022
2022 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview
Watch the National Conductor Preview in New Orleans with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, available on-demand for 45 days.
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June 28, 2021
Seasons of Change
As we tentatively begin to emerge from the pandemic, what will the fall orchestra season look like? One thing is certain: It won’t be business as usual. Orchestras have grappled with the pandemic and sought to confront racial injustice while adopting notably different approaches to the new season. Flexibility is key, given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.
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June 28, 2021
Orchestrating a Better Future
Few activities are as central to orchestras as auditions for musicians. “Blind” auditions, in which musicians perform behind a screen to shield their identity, were instituted in the 1970s to redress the longstanding exclusion of people of color and women from orchestras. While blind auditions were successful in some regards, particularly in increasing the proportion of women musicians at orchestras, the percentage of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) musicians has not risen significantly over time.
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April 28, 2021
Native Sounds
Music by composers from Navajo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and many other tribes is increasingly being performed and commissioned by orchestras as they seek to broaden the range of music they perform. While these artists are working in a classical European tradition, they embrace their cultural heritage and see music as a way to express Indigenous worldviews.
