Byron Stripling makes concepts like crossover irrelevant. He attended Eastman School of Music to study classical trumpet—and became an in-demand master of jazz trumpet. He played with legendary jazz bands—and guested with scores of American orchestras. He led jazz bands, played with pops stars—and now he’s the principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
With the support of our valued donors, the League continues to have a positive impact on the future of orchestras in America by helping to develop the next generation of leaders, generating and disseminating critical knowledge and information, and advocating for the unique role of the orchestral experience in American life before an ever-widening group of stakeholders.
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.
Your guide to the tops in 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.
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.
Five orchestra musicians are doing critically important work in their communities—work that is being honored by the League of American Orchestras’ Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service.
Orchestras are adopting new health protocols to keep everyone safe for the return of in-person concerts this fall. The emergence of the Delta variant and shifting COVID-19 infection rates mean that proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test, plus masking and social distancing, are being implemented for audiences, musicians, and staff alike. Actions vary from orchestra to orchestra, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. How is everyone coping?
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.
Musicians of Asian descent are visible on orchestra stages across the country, but their numbers do not reflect their voice, power, or influence, and many experience maltreatment or marginalization in their professional lives.